Knights of Konoha
by Blazonix
Summary: Becoming a ninja is an obvious choice for one who wakes up as Inuzuka Kiba. He just never thought he'd end up as a knight beforehand. Or that he'd be responsible for the birth of the Round Table. This is the Tale of the Knights of Konoha (and the mess they make of the world around them).
1. Gawain and Myrddin

Gaining Knighthood

* * *

He wakes up inside a dream. It's the only explanation he has for suddenly turning into a small child from a popular manga.

Red marks stretch over puffed-up cheeks as he makes a face in the mirror. Tiny beads for eyes stare back at him, and he reaches up to poke at his now spiky hair.

The only thing he remembers from last night was reading a _Naruto_ manga and drinking too much cheap beer. Now, he's three feet tall and forced to use a stool to reach the bathroom sink.

(There's no bathtub, just a toilet and sink. He followed his nose after waking up in someone's bedroom, and boy does it stink; someone should really think about cleaning it.)

Leaning closer to the mirror for a better angle, he loses his balance and slips. His back hits the floor while his legs flail, sending the stool flying into the wall behind him.

"STOP PLAYING AROUND UP THERE!" Says the demonic voice from the floor below him.

He stares up at the ceiling and realizes he's in far too much pain for this to simply be a dream. Which means he'll need to see the person that's been screaming at him since he woke up.

"Troublesome," he decides.

The owner of that demonic voice waits for him down the stairs. The moment he steps into the kitchen a fierce-looking woman looms over him, face twisting into displeasure. A spike of fear slides through him.

"About damn time, brat!" The woman bares her teeth at him. "You already missed breakfast, you runt! After what you did last night, don't expect me to feed you until lunch."

He wasn't the only one to have a bad night then, good to know. He hunches his shoulders instinctively.

"You're going to be helping your sister out at the clinic today to make it up to her, and if you cause her any problems I will beat you until you can't stand back up. Are. We. Clear?" The demon lady snarls at him.

"Yes, ma'am," he squeaks.

"Ma, not ma'am. I ain't no lady, and mothers are far more frightening than ladies," his demon of a mother grins savagely.

Life moves too fast for him to stop and think. He doesn't just gain a new mother: he has an older sister and so many cousins, uncles, and aunts that it's impossible to count.

No one suspects anything wrong with him even though he's clueless when it comes to nearly everything. It doesn't speak well of the original owner of the body, but, well, he _is_ currently a young child.

He abandons his old life without much hesitation. He is now Inuzuka Kiba, three years old and wildly curious about the world around him.

He assumes the children in this new world develop faster due to chakra. His body has already learned to read simple words, and no one bats an eye when he learns how to throw better punches after a cousin steals his snacks one time too many.

(It's not hard to settle into his new life. He feels oddly comfortable in this body even with the enhanced sense of smell. Now if only he could stop finding simple speech weird; it's giving him a headache to know he's not speaking English.)

Eventually, he feels brave enough to see the world past the grassy plains of the compound. Don't get him wrong, the Inuzuka lands are amazing—dogs everywhere!—but a part of him remembers an entire village waiting beyond the fence.

"Hey, Ma," he asks one day with his best pleading face, "can I go explore in the village?"

Kuromaru, Ma's ninken, huffs from behind him, and he ignores the intimidating dog to turn up the charm by widening his eyes. The unimpressed stare from his mother tells him to try a different tactic.

"I'll leave my sister alone for a _week_ ," he says with a grave emphasis.

"You won't last two days," Ma snorts.

He manages to win his mother over, and Ma lets him walk around Konoha under the protective glances of clan members weaving in and out of village streets and rooftops. Maybe once he gets his canine partner the vigilant watch will fade away, but it doesn't bother him.

If anything, it's comforting to know that he has relatives looking out for him, ready to take him home. Still, the casual attitude of giving young children free range to wander strikes him as strange. Different place, different values, he supposes.

Unfortunately, it turns out he's not ready to venture out into the village. Everything from the odor of sweat to spices assaults his nose all at once. It's incredibly overwhelming. He's about to throw in the towel when he smells _it_.

A whiff stops him in his tracks as he's walking past a busy side street. His mouth begins watering. Doughnuts, his mind whispers to him, _doughnuts_. His whole body becomes consumed with the delicious scent of fried bread and sugar.

Ma's given him enough money for a snack, so he finds no reason against turning around to pursue the appetizing smell. He follows the scent to a small stand and finds the counter to be above his head.

Not for the first time, he curses his own height. Doughnuts, his mind whispers again. Narrowing his eyes, he backs up and takes a running leap. His fingers latch onto the counter, and he heaves himself up until his stomach hits the counter top.

"How much?" He wheezes.

"Kid," the shocked stall owner stutters out, "all you had to do was say something! I would have leaned over!"

"How much?" He asks again, choosing to ignore the now useless advice.

"Thirty-seven ryo for two," the stall owner eventually says.

He holds onto the counter with one hand and digs around in his pockets with the other. He places the money onto the counter and almost slides off while attempting to give the correct amount.

"Enjoy your sata andagi," the stall owner says, sliding the paper-wrapped food towards him.

Pleased, he grabs the bundle and tumbles to the ground. He lands harshly on his behind, but he's experienced so much intense rough housing over the past month that the pain barely registers.

Exploring while eating is simple enough and only a moron would cause an accident while unfolding paper. Naturally, while trying to stuff one of the sweets into his mouth, he stops looking at where he's going.

"Hey!"

He rubs his forehead while clutching the remainder of the snack to his chest. A scowling girl glares at him from beneath pink bangs, rubbing her own forehead with teary, green eyes. He swallows the rest of the bread in his mouth, mourning his peaceful snack time.

"Watch where you're going—" The girl suddenly stops, going pale.

Rude, he's not that scary. He tries not to frown, choosing to glance down at his remaining treat. Let it not be said the Inuzuka don't know benevolence.

"Sorry about that," he holds out his remaining piece generously, "doughnut?"

" _Doughnut_?" The girl repeats dumbly.

"Oi, it's not like I know what the Japanese call it," he mutters.

More like he wasn't paying attention to what the stall owner called it. Well, he'll get used to the new terms soon enough. Immersion is the best learning method after all.

"Japanese?" The girl once again repeats.

"Whatever you call this language," he shrugs without much care.

It's a fact that kids make up words all the time; his five year old cousin still calls fancy hairpins "bogomi." The worst reaction he'll ever get is a condescending attitude.

He's about to rescind his offer of the, quite frankly, amazing doughnut and go about his day when he's grabbed by the shoulders and shaken.

"You—other life—remember?" The girl shrieks in his ear.

He shoves the sweet into her mouth out of reflex. It takes a full second before everything sinks in, and he's pounding a choking Haruno Sakura on the back.

Needless to say, it's a bit of a shock to suddenly run into someone else that used to be, well, someone else.

("How?" Sakura hisses. "Why did this happen to us?"

He can't answer that, and Sakura's face drops at his non-reply. The girl flits between ecstatic to have found someone else with memories of a bygone world and ready to burst into tears.

Later, she'll tell him of the horrible time she had upon waking up to a room colored pink, of hospitals and tears. Of the new love she found in her overprotective parents.)

They manage to arrange a meet up of sorts before he's rushed home by a family member that assumes he's bullying her. The next time they see each other, they're able to truly talk, and it goes well even if it does leave Sakura silent for a few days.

Of course, both of their families easily find out they're meeting up. Sakura's parents are concerned about her choice in friends, and his mother wants to make sure he's not actually bullying Sakura.

This leads to a rather public parent approved playdate. They're left staring at each other wordlessly.

"How about we play a game?" He suggests.

"What are we, kids?" Sakura scoffs.

"Yes," he deadpans.

Sakura goes quiet, and he looks around the playground. Calling it a playground is rather charitable; there's nothing to play with besides a few balancing bars. He'd go so far as to say this is nothing more than a dumping ground for mothers to leave their children.

Is it any wonder that most of the kids here group up and play pretend?

"Want to go play ninja?" He asks, eyeing one of the smaller groups of children.

The boy with the brown hair–clearly the leader–smells like fried food and well laundered clothes. No obvious negative scent, no mean remarks to that kid that just fell down, probably a good choice to approach–

"Absolutely not," Sakura snarls, face twisting into something truly dark.

He takes a step back, automatically hunching his shoulders. He doesn't relax until Sakura's face smooths out, and she loosens her tiny fists. She looks a step away from crying, and he feels like he's been stabbed.

Which is horrible considering he hasn't even done anything.

"Sorry," Sakura says dully, "but pick something else. Anything else."

He frowns and attempts to think of something less triggering. Clearly his new friend is a bomb disguised as a girl. He'll have to be careful not to set her off.

Well, if ninja elicits a spark, what is the opposite of ninja? Samurai? He taps his foot against the ground in thought. No, that's still too close to ninja. How about–

"Let's play knights," he suggests.

"Knights?" Sakura blinks at him with wide eyes.

"Yeah, like Knights of the Round Table," he nods even as Sakura continues to mouth the word "knights" with a blank expression.

"I'll be King Arth–Arth," he can't quite make the "th" sound and compromises, "Arturus, and you'll be Myrddin."

Knights are as far away from ninja as possible. It's a good choice for a game, and he can't quite stop himself from his pleased wriggle. He decides that, hey, he's only three. Why not wriggle?

Sakura doesn't say anything. She only stares at him with those big eyes and suddenly his good idea seems incredibly lame. He scratches his cheek nervously.

"Well, what do you want to play then?" He snaps out defensively.

"I like it. I want to play knights," Sakura suddenly smiles, surprising him, "but you can't be King Arturus."

"What? Why not?" He asks, miffed.

"Because you're not King-like enough," Sakura says with a haughty sniff. "Besides I've got a better idea. I know who you should be!"

"Oh, yeah?" He challenges. "Who?"

"Gawain," Sakura says, eyes bright.

He shrugs his shoulders and goes with it. Gawain, one of the greatest Knights of the Round Table, is a pretty cool guy to be. Sakura and he go look for sticks, ones suitable enough for a sword and a staff, and begin making up a story about searching for the Holy Grail.

"Fear not, Sir Gawain, for I am here with you! With your swordsmanship and my chakra, there is no obstacle we cannot overcome!" Myrddin cries, waving her leafy staff.

"Indeed," he nods. "I only fear that the one responsible for our missing comrades will show herself soon, that wretched Morgana."

By the end of the day, they've turned the Holy Grail into the "Sage's Sake Cup" and talked some of the other kids into pretending to be Morgana's evil ninja, sent to hinder their quest.

"Oh, Sakura, what happened to your hair?" Sakura's mother laments, attempting to smooth down the tangled mess her daughter's hair has become.

Sakura merely gives her mother a huge grin, spinning her pretend staff with a flourish. He taps the fake sword against his shoulder and considers today's mission a success.

Myrddin and Gawain may not have found the Sage's Sake Cup, but he certainly found something far more valuable: a hilariously creative, fun friend.

He follows them out of the playground despite Mrs. Haruno's strained smile. Sakura and he plan their next meet up before parting ways. They both take home their sticks and a promise to continue where they left off.

(Sakura never tells him that Gawain, champion of women and the poor, is her favorite knight of all time)

* * *

To those who read the Outtakes of the Together to the Future series this will look familiar. I'm extending the mini-series a bit and letting it stand as its own story. To any new readers, I hope you enjoy reading!


	2. Arturus and Lancelot

...

"Hey, Kiba, your old name. Are you able to," Sakura halts and shakes her head with a rueful smile.

 _Are you able to say it_ , he assumes is the unasked question. Sakura starts complaining about her mother's inability to buy practical dresses, and he allows her the change in subject.

By mutual agreement, they decide to put discussions of the "old" world on hold. For Sakura, it hurts too much to think of the life she left behind. For him, he'd rather just forget entirely.

(There's no comparison between his old life and his new one. He's never had a sister that shoves his head into the dirt but sneaks him candy before dinner, or an uncle that tosses him into the air because he asked. It's amazing.)

While it's impossible to pretend that they don't have a pre-written story hanging over their heads, they decide to enjoy their second childhood and think about the future later. They're having too much fun to be standing around, worrying.

To avoid seeing the same children day by day, they don't always meet up in the same spot. Sakura and he take turns picking a new place to play in, and he realizes too late that they have a higher chance to run into someone they recognize.

"Myrddin, that castle is too suspicious! Surely King Arturus is being held there. What says your chakra?" He points his sword towards a hastily made cardboard fort.

"Hey, can I play too?" A voice high-pitched and lisp-ridden calls out.

He pauses with his stick high in the air and turns around. Sakura goes very still beside him, and he tries not to stare at the boy with whisker marks on his cheeks. A boy who wears a swirl patterned shirt and bright orange shorts.

He does his best to avoid shiny, blue eyes that tinge with hope and desperation. He keeps his mouth firmly closed and waits for Sakura to say something. She glances at him, and he shrugs back.

"Okay, but you've got to play who we choose for you," Sakura says, voice slightly stilted.

"Who is it? Who is it?" Naruto asks, practically bouncing.

Naruto's blue eyes pop against blond hair that can't decide whether it has bangs or not. Matched with Naruto's desire to be Hokage, it's an easy decision. He shares a glance with Sakura and together they utter,

"King Arturus."

Naturally, Naruto doesn't understand what it means to be King even when they compare it to being Hokage. Most of the rules to their game seem to go over the kid's head to be honest.

"No, you have to stay back and give orders!" Sakura scowls, staff tapping against the ground irritably.

"Stupid! I wanna fight!" Naruto spits back, unaware of the stick slipping out of his hand.

He rolls his eyes and steps in before it can deteriorate from there. Once past the childish argument, their group renews the battle to get past Morgana's traps and into the castle. The huge smile on Naruto's face makes the hassle of a new member worth it.

"I'm King! I get to go first!" King Arturus nods once they get to the entrance of the castle.

Naruto enters the fort without a care for its fragility, and the cardboard fort breaks, burying Naruto underneath it. He grins as the pile of cardboard shakes with loud angry squawking. Sakura laughs so hard she cries.

It's pretty fun playing with three people; it feels a lot more real. He could get used to it.

With the destruction of the empty castle, the Knights of the Round Table consider this mission finished despite the King's pouting. Sakura and he decide to head home for the day.

"See you tomorrow!" Naruto frantically waves goodbye to their backs.

"I wonder if he knows he never told us his name," he whispers to Sakura, waving over his shoulder.

"We'll ask tomorrow," Sakura says.

Naruto waits for them every day after that, and they never consider ditching him. They take him with them whenever they move to a new spot—so he'll know where they're meeting up—and Naruto never fails to be there, bouncing on his toes impatiently.

The three of them are much louder which draws more attention. He pays it no mind until he's staring into determined dark eyes.

"I want to play," a tiny Sasuke announces, cheeks puffing up.

If getting caught by Naruto was weird, it's even weirder to get asked to play by Sasuke. The baby Uchiha should honestly be locked away in the Uchiha compound.

He shares a helpless look with Sakura. It's not like they have a good reason to say no at this point. Naruto, begging them to agree so he can get a new friend, is also a large factor in "can't say no."

"Fine, you can play with us, but you have to play who we choose," Sakura agrees reluctantly.

The memory of a powerful Sasuke who teeters between insanity and immorality comes to mind. With a desire to bring down Konoha and a brother complex taller than the Hokage Tower, he knows the one character that fits Sasuke.

"He can be Morgana," he says.

A sharp elbow to the stomach makes him gasp for breath. Sakura steps away from him and puts on her thinking face.

"Lancelot," Sakura tries to say only for it to get mangled into Ranseyat, "you can be Lancelot. King Arturus' best friend."

Shiny blue eyes cause Sasuke to flinch away. Naruto's cheering of "Lancelot!" causes the Uchiha a fair amount of pain. Hilariously enough, baby Sasuke seems quite helpless in the face of Naruto's radiant joy.

"Is this Lancelot strong?" Sasuke questions demandingly.

"The strongest knight," Sakura promises, "only matched by Gawain during the day."

The last part is hurriedly tacked on. He feels a shiver go down his spine as Sasuke pouts in displeasure. Surely Sasuke isn't so highly competitive at this age?

"And at night?" Sasuke asks, somehow making it sound threatening.

"Gawain's probably no match for Lancelot at night," Sakura says with an emphasis on the probably.

A glint in Sasuke's eyes causes him to reconsider the benefits of dueling. He has no doubt that they'll be going through a pile of sticks faster than they can blink once Sasuke gets the hang of knighthood.

"I'll go find a stick for Lancelot," he says with a sigh. "Try not to kill anyone while I'm gone."

He finds out later that Sasuke gave his babysitter the slip. It's too late though; the Uchiha is here to stay thanks to a loving older brother who can't resist Sasuke's demands.

"My mom packed us some snacks," Sakura says, opening a bento. "You want any?"

He reaches around Sakura to grab a pack of cookies. Sakura's mother isn't too keen on him, but she always packs his favorites anyway.

"There isn't any netto is there?" Sasuke asks warily as Naruto begins digging through the snacks.

"Natto," Sakura corrects, "and no, just the good stuff."

By good stuff, she means lots of crackers and sugary treats. Sakura saves the bento from an overzealous Naruto, and he throws a cookie to Sasuke who catches it with a proud huff.

He shares a look with Sakura, and they both break out into giggles. God-like ninja is not the phrase he'd choose for these two brats. Sasuke, well aware they're laughing at him, makes an indignant face while Naruto laughs with them foolishly.

(A butterfly flaps its wings, bringing change and hope)


	3. Percival and Tristan

...

Apparently he and Sakura are having too much fun in their exclusive world of pretend; a tiny Naruto and Sasuke join them, and with Naruto as King Arturus and Sasuke as Lancelot, their playtime becomes a lot…stranger.

The demon child and the youngest son of the Uchiha main house bring their own can of worms, and there's always someone keeping a sharp eye on their playdates. If he didn't already know that little Itachi is a genin with better things to do, he would have missed the background tension entirely.

(Is it Naruto or Sasuke that keeps them under supervision? The Uchiha coup is only a few years away.)

He ultimately decides that it doesn't matter since his family doesn't seem to be against him playing with the two. Though their faces do scrunch up when he mentions Sasuke, something he takes great pleasure in.

"So what're we doing today?" He asks, tapping a stick against his shoulder.

Sasuke's mouth opens, and Naruto leans in excitedly as if not knowing exactly what the Uchiha is going to say.

"No dueling," Sakura interjects.

Sasuke pouts immediately. He sends her a grateful look, and Naruto lets out a giggle. Movement from the corner of his eye catches his attention.

"What's your brother got?" He asks, and Sasuke brightens up immediately.

Today's game of pretend ends up getting out of hand. It starts with, as he's beginning to suspect all major events eventually will, a sad child who only wants to be accepted by their peers.

They're in the middle of taking down a fortress—which is actually just an elaborate tent put together by Itachi who barely kept a straight face through the whole thing—when an unpleasant sound reaches their ears.

"You always lose! Loser!"

The insult is screamed so loud that it causes all of them to stop in the middle of their assault. Across the playground is what looks like a mismatched group of children crowding around an older boy screaming at a younger one.

They can't hear the rest of the one-sided fight, but they do see the older boy push the younger one down.

A streak of yellow rushes past him, and he hurries after Naruto, still stuck in "follow the king" mode. He doesn't realize he's headed straight for the altercation until he's halfway across the playground.

"Hey! What are you doing?" Naruto shouts out, stick pointed straight at the older boy.

Well, in for a penny, in for a pound. He steps up beside Naruto, stick tapping against his shoulder threateningly. Before the boy can say anything, Sasuke steps up to Naruto's other side, and Sakura's aggravated sighing hits the back of his neck.

The younger boy scurries away once the attention shifts to their group. The boy looks awfully familiar. He strains his memory for why. There, those clan marks on the kid's cheek. He knows those swirls; it's Chouji.

He misses the verbal throw down between Naruto and the bully, having tuned them out to focus on Chouji. He only vaguely recognizes Naruto's speech getting louder and angrier.

A movement catches his attention, and he flings himself in front of Naruto. A fist connects with his face, and he only remains standing thanks to his cousins' rough play. It's not like he does this on purpose; he's gotten so used to taking hits aimed for King Arturus that it's an automatic reaction at this point.

The stinging in his cheek seems to become magnified by the sudden chilly silence. He smells fear and wonders what the gaggle of three year olds behind him look like.

"Shayari," Naruto suddenly says, stepping around him.

"What?" Is the only thing the older boy can get out before a stick whacks him across the face.

"Shayari," Sasuke says grimly, charging forward as the boy's friends jump in.

"Shan _naro_!" Sakura cries out, rushing past him.

There is one thing that a Knight of the Round Table must abide by: chivalry. When Naruto first joined, there were some modifications to both the concept and the word as nothing about chivalry translates over well.

The result is shayari: Attack for justice. Do not betray. Do not be cruel. Protect the weak. Respect mothers. Pick your battles. Respect your Hokage and Nation.

Evidently this is either justice (him) or protecting the weak (Chouji).

He sees a fist aimed towards Sakura's back and dashes forward with a clumsy thrust of his mock sword. Satisfaction fills him at the kid's pained yell, and he loses himself to the childish battleground and bloodlust.

What a world where three year olds could even experience bloodlust. At least he's got his bloodline to blame; Sakura's got no excuse.

"Everyone okay?" He asks, pulling a hissing Sakura off a now crying kid.

"Fine," Sasuke says, throwing away the small remainder of a stick into the grass.

"Uh-huh," Naruto nods, wiping dirty fingers against a white shirt.

An unimpressed Itachi hovers over them not a second later. Painful finger flicks on the forehead is their punishment. Itachi gestures for Sasuke to follow him, and Sasuke's cheeks puff up in response.

He's got to hand to big brother; Itachi never scolds Sasuke in front of them. Hana would have just yelled at him right there.

Naruto grumbles at Itachi's back before going still. Naruto rushes over to a wide-eyed Chouji, who falls down in shock. He wonders if the kid's afraid of them.

"Hey," Naruto says, crouching down, "not a loser. We're on your side, and we won. So there!"

He can't help it. He laughs. Chouji's wide eyes look from him to Sakura who is straightening her hair next to him. Chouji doesn't reply fast enough, and Naruto takes this as a negative response.

"I'm King of the Knights of the Round Table," Naruto continues gravely, "and I say you're not a loser!"

"King? Knights?" Chouji looks to Naruto in confusion.

Naruto puffs up and, with hands on hips, begins spouting off a rehearsed speech. Sakura helped draft it for him.

"We are the great Swords of Konoha! We are few but brave! None can match us! Our friendship is strong! We sit at a round table! I, Uzumaki Naruto, greatest leader of all time, sit at this table! We follow the way of shayari!"

"Shayari?" Chouji blinks.

And like that, Naruto goes off into a long rant of what shayari means. It's surprisingly deep for a three year old, far deeper than what Sakura or he described.

"I think we may have replaced his nindo," he whispers to Sakura.

Maybe Chouji's too considering those shiny eyes.

"Don't say that," Sakura whispers back with a grimace.

Sasuke joins them with a smile which lets him know Itachi didn't actually do any reprimanding. Naruto winds down, and the bizarre spiritual testimony ends with the expected offer.

"Do you want to join?" Naruto asks, excitement visible.

"Can I really?" Chouji squeaks out.

Naruto lets out an "Of course!" and turns to Sakura and him expectantly. He shares a glance with Sakura, and she bites her lip. Undoubtedly, it's hitting her now that there's no Shikamaru with Chouji.

He rolls a shoulder and leans forward so his forehead is touching Sakura's.

"Lamorak?" Sakura quietly says. "Incredibly strong."

"Percival," he argues, name strangled out to Berseyir, "innocent and polite. Wants to be a knight after seeing them in action."

Sakura makes an agreeing sound, and they turn to Chouji. The plump boy taps his fingers together nervously.

"You are Sir Percival, Knight of the Round Table," Sakura says while making a grand gesture. "Make your oath to your King!"

It's hilarious how stern it sounds, and he doesn't bother stopping the huge grin on his face.

"Oath?" Chouji repeats with some confusion.

"You have to agree to follow shayari and this guy," Sasuke says, poking Naruto.

Naruto pokes back, and they step in to explain the names and the rules before everything derails.

Everyone has to have a sword (stick) except for Sakura. Sir is a surname belonging to everyone in the Round Table except for Naruto and Sakura. Naruto's king, but Sakura's his advisor that shares equal status, and so on.

At some point in their explanation, they gain an audience. Their scent's been around since the fight broke out and remains even after the other group of children literally ran home crying. He's been keeping an eye on it, but the scent keeps getting closer.

"Oi, what do you want?" He eventually calls out when the odor gets too close.

A boy with drooping eyes and a frowning face comes out from the shadows. Something strikes him as eerily familiar, but the boy takes his time to slowly walk to stand in front of Naruto.

The boy looks from Chouji to the rest of them with a gaze that seems far too calculating. He tenses up with the sudden realization of who this is.

"You have room for one more?" Shikamaru asks.

And like that, they gain Sir Tristan.

("It doesn't fit," Sakura whispers harshly. "Tristan was in love and always on the run!"

"His love is a cloud, and he runs from work for it. It'll work," he shrugs. "You got a better name for him?"

The silence that answers him is telling)


	4. Bedwyr and Lionel

...

The adventures of the Knights of the Round Table continue on without incident for four months. While Sakura and he have nostalgia fueling them, the rest of the group should have gotten tired of their game by now. Little kids, he remembers, have short attention spans and constantly fluctuating desires.

Why then, is he here with his sister, buying a wooden sword?

"That's too much for a defect bokken. You trying to rip me off?" Hana scowls from next to him.

It's amazing how intimidating an eight year old girl can be. The shopkeeper's brow is beading up with sweat.

"Five hundred," the man spits.

"Try fifty," Hana snarls.

He watches the back and forth until the price gets settled on something both parties agree to. Hana throws him the wooden sword, and he almost falls over trying to catch it. He clutches the weapon awkwardly to his chest and follows Hana out the store.

"If anyone gives you trouble over it, bring 'em to me," Hana says darkly.

The Haimaru brothers perk up outside the door. We'll give them a thrashing, one of them promises. The other two let out barks of agreement.

"I've got to go. Be home by dinner," Hana tells him, ruffling his hair violently.

His sister dashes away, leaving him with a stinging scalp and holding an oversized wooden sword. As he watches her ninken disappear after her, he wonders if she realizes that he has no idea where he's at or how to get home.

She's definitely his Sis, he thinks. Only siblings carried that unique love; the kind where they cook breakfast and buy a weapon only to turn around and abandon with a smile.

Sighing, he adjusts the wooden sword in his arms, picks a direction, and walks. He'll run into an Inuzuka eventually. Probably.

His feet carry him out of the market and into a more remote area. It's a relief once the odor of people thin out, and he thinks he can smell a familiar scent. He follows it to a small garden hidden by shrubbery.

There's a girl kneeling over a bowl, surrounded by spilled sunflower petals, and he lets out a groan. He could have sworn it was his aunt's perfume. A boy stands over her radiating anger. This is probably a bad time to ask for directions.

"You killed my father!" The boy growls.

Maybe if he turns around and pretends to see nothing—the girl bursts into tears.

Well, alright then.

"Oi," he says, stepping forward, "stop it."

Stop making her cry is what he wants to say. His words die in his throat as two pairs of blank eyes swivel to meet his in surprise. Hyuuga, his memory tells him.

"This isn't your business," the boy hisses at him. "Leave."

Leaving would be the easy thing to do. Nothing good ever comes from being involved with the Hyuuga; his mother curses them frequently enough. Thing is, he's never been one for the easy path.

"My business now," he growls as deeply as his young vocal cords allow. "Making a girl cry like that, have you no shame?"

 _Have you no shame_. It's something he utters a lot as Gawain. It's not the first time he finds himself repeating his words as a knight outside the game either. When did the pretend world start seeping into the real one?

"You know nothing," the boy spits.

"I know that you're blaming her for something she didn't do," he bares his teeth. "Unless she's a really strong ninja or _your father was a lame one_."

The boy comes at him with a scream and a thrusting palm. He only has enough time to chuck the sword to the side and dodge. He lands a fierce elbow strike into the kid's side and twirls around the boy's counterstrike. He lands a punch into the boy's other side, dancing away from the next counter attack.

It continues like this until they're both gasping for breath and slouched over. It's galling, but he'll need to go buy Sasuke a better birthday gift. It's only thanks to the Uchiha's constant dueling that he can even keep up with this older boy.

"So you want to talk about it now?" He wheezes.

The boy screams and rushes at him. He takes it as a no. Beyond tired and seriously aggravated, he stands his ground instead of moving out of the way. The boy aims a palm for his shoulder, and he takes the chance to wrap his arms around the kid.

He drags them both to the ground and maintains an iron grip even as the boy struggles with ever increasing hysterical fervor. The girl remains frozen in shock on the ground beside them, tears still flowing down her cheeks.

"You can cry you know," he says softly into the kid's ear. "You loved him."

It takes a minute, but liquid beings sliding down his neck. Broken sobs dig into his ear, and to make things worse, the girl begins crying harder to give him a double dose of high-pitched wailing. He stares up at the sky and wonders what he did to deserve this.

Sunflowers and tears make for a terrible combination. He doesn't want to smell it again.

"You're late!" Naruto yells, leaping towards him with a scrunched up face.

Naruto stops short, and Sakura, following behind Naruto, freezes in place. Both of their gazes fly past his shoulders. He scratches the back of his head, and his hand bumps into the wooden sword attached to his back.

He takes a breath and gestures behind him,

"Guys, meet Hinata and Neji. They're going to play with us."

Sakura drags him away immediately. He winces as her forehead smacks into his.

"Are you out of your mind? Take them back," Sakura whispers harshly

"Too late. Already named them," he says, unapologetic.

If looks could kill, he muses. For a moment, he worries that Sakura is about to unleash killing intent, but she soon deflates like a popped balloon.

"What are they?" Sakura asks, resigned.

"Hinata's Bedwyr, and Neji's Lionel," he tells her, Lionel turning into Raione.

"We could have come up with better names than that," Sakura grouses.

"I know, but I wanted to make sure you couldn't say no," he says without a hint of shame.

It's not like he didn't give it any thought. Bedwyr, though overshadowed by the others, stayed by the king's side until the end. Lionel went mad with vengeance against the brother that didn't save him from his torment.

"You're responsible for him," Sakura says. "If he goes crazy, you better be able to stop it."

"On my honor," he smirks.

Sakura gives him a flat look. She sticks her tongue out and stomps away to the newcomers. He can almost see the moment Sakura changes into her role as Myrddin—her back straightens and her strides become strong and confident.

He wonders if she realizes that she's been controlling her emotions better these past few weeks. He was expecting angry tears or getting hit instead of a quick acceptance.

(Sakura doesn't say it, but she's getting nervous. Naruto and Sasuke had no friends. Chouji and Shikamaru only had each other. What does the butterfly affect?)

He's probably not the only one being influenced by his game character. If the two of them are being changed in small ways, what about actual moldable children?

"Where did you get that?" Sasuke demands to know, running up to him and staring at his back.

"My sister got it for me," he says, already knowing how this is going to end. "She got it for cheap since it's a defect."

Sasuke puffs up in envy, and he glances to where Chouji and Shikamaru are sitting in the shade. He can't see either of them wielding a bokken but stranger things have happened.

"When Itachi buys you one, ask how to hold it properly," he says. "And then show me. Our duels are going to be _epic_."


	5. Gaheris and Nimue

...

"Akamaru," he breathes, holding the tiny puppy with both hands.

It's amazing, this feeling. Sis hovers over his shoulder, ready to intervene. It's a useless gesture; he's not going to drop his partner. Akamaru lets out a squeak, and he thinks it's a confirmation. I'm here, the puppy seems to say.

Because he can't stop himself, he places the lightest of kisses onto Akamaru's head and says under his breath,

"Gaheris."

(Gawain's dear conscious, the brother who followed him everywhere. Unlike the legend though, he's not going to let Akamaru die. Never.)

Of course, the first time he brings Akamaru out with him to their play group it's a bit of a disaster.

"Puppy!"

"Why would you bring a puppy?"

"Dogs can't be knights."

"How's he gonna hold a sword?"

And so on.

Four year olds, he reminds himself, really aren't told about other clans. It's why Chouji gets picked on for his weight, or the Hyuuga have to answer endless questions about their eyes.

Akamaru lets out a distressed sound, and he runs a soothing finger over the puppy's back. He's a bit worried that it's too soon to bring Akamaru out, but the puppy had wanted to come with him.

"Stop it!"

Everyone's gaze moves to Hinata whose face turns bright red. To her credit, the Hyuuga heiress doesn't shrink, instead choosing to raise her head higher.

"It doesn't matter if he can't hold a sword. Sakura doesn't either! Akamaru is one of us now," Hinata says sternly.

"But—"

"It doesn't matter. All Inuzuka have ninja dogs," Neji cuts in with a disapproving frown. "Their dogs are also as intelligent as us. Akamaru will be able to play."

So serious, these Hyuuga kids. He sends them both a wide grin and gets small smiles in return. Akamaru lets out a stronger sound, and he thinks the puppy is satisfied with their new friends.

(Out of everyone who benefits from being a knight, it's Hinata and Neji that seem to have grown the most. He couldn't be more proud.)

"Let me know when Akamaru's ready, and I'll perform the naming. Now, I think we left off with Chouji," Sakura speaks up, tapping her shiny new staff against the ground pointedly.

Chouji lights up immediately, eyes practically glowing in excitement. Shikamaru, looking for all the world like he needs to lay down right this moment, straightens out of a slouch next to Chouji.

"Tristan and I decided to go on a quest to find Morgana's Fare," her dinner, Chouji means, "and have decided it's in the Akimichi district. It's a long, perilous journey. Would it be alright if everyone went?"

Chouji directs the last part shyly to all of them instead of solely at Naruto. He's pretty sure they're being asked if they'd like to go eat at Chouji's clan grounds. He'd be an idiot to turn down food made by the Akimichi.

"You have my blade," he promises, setting Akamaru onto the top of his head. "Gaheris' too."

"Everyone's going! It's too dangerous for only Tristan and Percival!" Naruto decides with a nod.

"Can you wait and let us agree first?" Sasuke scowls, crossing his arms.

Undoubtedly the Uchiha wanted to say a cool one-liner.

"Too late. Your king has spoken," Shikamaru deadpans. "Let's go before the food gets cold."

They head off, loud and boisterous with Chouji leading the way. They get stared at by nameless people on the street—whether it's because of their group size, clan backgrounds, wooden swords strapped to their backs, or Naruto, he doesn't know—but he finds that none of the children seem to mind it.

How bizarre, he thinks. Sakura leans in and begins running future quest ideas by him, and then he finds himself not paying attention to it either.

(Chouji brings them to his house. Most of them forget their manners before the food even gets served as they never drop out of game mode, but Chouza's beaming smile is steady.)

The peaceful days don't last, or should he say, _his_ peaceful days don't last. It begins, as he's starting to fear, with a girl. It's always a girl.

He's meeting with Sakura, having finally been trusted to get to her house by himself. No Gawain and Myrddin this time, just Kiba and Sakura, two friends wanting to hang out and talk.

He gets kidnapped halfway there.

It's not that he doesn't see it coming, he's got a nose and Akamaru's painful tugging on his hair to warn him. It's for all that chakra enhances him to supernatural heights, he's still an in-training four year old who can barely keep his eyes open once it gets dark.

"Sorry about this," the man tells him with a gentle smile, sprinting across the rooftops at a maddening speed, "but she's not going to stop until she gets to talk to you. Don't worry. Your mother has already been informed."

He doesn't get to ask for further clarification. The arm around his stomach is knocking the air out of him, and his focus is to keep Akamaru from falling off. It feels like forever, but they eventually land in front of what can only be described as a manor.

He shifts Akamaru into his arms out of paranoia once his feet hit the ground. The scents here are new; he's never been near here before. He takes a deep breath and follows the man into the house, tense with the knowledge that there's no running for it.

"Sir," his kidnapper brings him to what can only be described as an office, "I've brought the Inuzuka heir as you requested."

There's a man with long, blond hair in a ponytail sitting behind a desk. The man's eyes seem to look into his very soul, and he doesn't hesitate to bare his teeth.

"Scaring him unnecessarily while doing so, I see," the man behind the desk comments dryly. "Try to be a bit more careful, Akiyo. I wouldn't want to see you get bit."

His kidnapper leaves with a bow, abandoning him to the man with the uncanny gaze. He places Akamaru back onto his head and drops to the floor into an unsightly sprawl. The desk hides him from view; the man will have to stand up to talk to him.

"Fair enough," the man sighs in response. "I'll get you a chair."

He crosses his arms and waits. He should be enjoying snacks and juice right now. Sakura's undoubtedly worrying her head off too.

It's not until he's seated in a more equal setting, that the man introduces himself. He's not surprised in the slightest. Pages of a manga burned into his brain make it obvious enough.

"I am Yamanaka Inoichi, and I have a request," Inoichi says. "I have a daughter your age, Ino, that's been unwell. Recently, she's been making, ah, _inquiries_ about your play group."

Judging by the sound of it, Ino's probably been making life miserable for her father. He's not against another kid joining, but something seems off. What does Inoichi mean by unwell?

"I'd like to ask that you tell her she can't join your group." Inoichi, noticing his surprise, hurries to add, "She's very unwell thanks to a chakra accident. She needs to stay home for treatment, but she's refusing it until she can talk to you."

If Inoichi is uncomfortable talking to him like an adult, the man doesn't show it. Inoichi waits patiently for an answer. He narrows his eyes in thought. He can't pin down the why, but something is truly off about this situation.

"I'll talk to her," is all he promises.

"Tsume tells me you are remarkably mature," Inoichi says, fingers lacing together. "Before you speak to her, there is something you should know about Ino."

The man is clearly hesitating on continuing. He tilts his head and does his best to convey "I'm listening" to the fretting father.

What Inoichi has to say is astonishing, and he gets to know exactly what "chakra accident" means.

He's not quite sure what to do when he finds himself forced into Ino's bedroom and into a silent staring contest. The girl stares him down with the same eerie gaze that belongs to her father. Akamaru's paws flex against his hair, and he lessens the tension in his shoulders.

"You're the one who started the Knights of the Round Table. That's what my sources tell me," Ino tells him without preamble.

She never blinks.

"Sources?" He raises his eyebrows.

"My mother," Ino admits shamelessly.

"Yeah, that's right. I started it," he says.

"So you're like her. Like _me_ ," Ino utters, eyes darkening.

He watches the way Ino's eyes flicker, and the pieces that Inoichi handed him fall into place. He thinks he knows the real reason why Ino's called him here, why she won't leave her bedroom until talking to him.

"So, you woke up here too?" He asks with false casualness. "Did you ever read a manga called 'Naruto?' "

Ino finally blinks. She makes a noise in her throat, and then, to his alarm, starts to rapidly blink. Oh crap. He tries to figure out how he could have possibly offended her. He can't think of anything.

"It's not just us. Sakura woke up here too," he tells her. "The knights thing is kind of our way of keeping a piece of the old world, you know?"

To his horror, his words only make things worse. Ino bursts into tears, and Akamaru whines at the noise. Why does everyone outside his family want to cry all the time? Flashbacks of Neji prompt him to wrap Ino into a hug.

It's apparently the right thing to do as Ino hugs back, clutching him so tightly it's sure to leave bruises.

"She's real," Ino sobs against his shoulder, and for a moment, he swears he hears two voices. " _She's real_."

Ino mumbles many broken sentences, and he catches a few things he's not meant to hear. The Yamanaka speaks of waking up to a room that is and isn't hers, of breaking down and mentally splitting into two people.

"My name was Abby, but my name is Ino," the girl howls into his shoulder. "She's real, and I'm real. And you're real. And I'm _not_ crazy."

He's not sure he's got the whole picture—neither he nor Sakura woke up with such an identity crisis—but he waits until she's mostly calm to say,

"Abby is who you were. Ino is who you are."

He hopes it's the right thing to say since it starts off another crying session. Next time he gets kidnapped, he's kicking the crap out of someone, he swears.

"Come on, I need to talk to my dad," Ino sniffles, finally letting him go.

He follows Ino out of the bedroom and back to where he first met Inoichi. He'll never know what was said that day, having waited outside for privacy's sake, but Ino exits the office holding her father's hand after a long while.

"Dad's taking us to Sakura's house. What kind of food does she like?" Ino asks, eyes bright.

To say Sakura and Ino hit it off…would be incorrect.

"You can't be Lady of the Lake," Sakura scowls. "It makes no sense!"

"I want to be someone important!" Ino scowls back.

"Sir Bors," Sakura manages to say with a straight face.

He bites into a piece of dango, and watches Ino's face darken. Bors was an important knight, the only one to come back from the Holy Grail quest in fact, but—

"I can understand English, forehead girl," Ino sneers.

"Why do you want to be the Lady of the Lake?" He hurries to ask before Sakura can say another word.

"I only know Merlin, Arthur, Lancelot, and the Lady of the Lake," Ino says to him cheerfully, mangling every word and with no frown in sight. "I'm not like you two nerds."

Girls, he thinks, are scary creatures. He halves the last dango stick, and places the pieces on Ino's and Sakura's plates as a sacrifice of appeasement. His way of making sure they're on his side.

"Look, Lady of the Lake is Myrddin's girlfriend and that's not happening," Sakura says, tearing into the dango absentmindedly.

"You're right," Ino nods, biting into her own, "I can do _so_ much better."

Akamaru lets out a concerned squeak, and he gently pats the puppy's back. He understands his partner's concern, but there's no stopping these two. The both of them are too much alike.

"We can change up the Lady of the Lake just like we did with shayari," he suggests before things get out of hand. "Ino can be Nimue, Myrddin's apprentice who doesn't have a love interest. Who joins to make sure King Arturus isn't abusing her sword, Excalibur."

"Fine," Sakura grumbles, "but you're still just my apprentice. I'll always be stronger than you."

It's a lie; the Lady of the Lake is the one who ends up imprisoning Merlin for all time, but judging from Ino's expression, the Yamanaka doesn't know enough to think otherwise.

He decides to let it go.

"Good to meet you, Nimue," he grins and holds up his cup in mockery of a toast. "Welcome to the Knights of the Round Table."

Ino and Sakura's cups clang against his.


	6. Kay

...

Ino, having decided to go all in, gets her father to buy a staff like Sakura's. As this is a ninja village, the staffs are actually practice weapons for small children. Of course, it being Ino, her staff is far nicer and decorative than Sakura's.

Sakura doesn't take this in stride.

"That pig," Sakura snarls with paint dripping down her cheek. "Who does she think she is?"

He hums in place of a real response and moves a perilous placed paint can away from the disaster zone. An old bed sheet covers the floor, but he doesn't feel like chancing it. Sakura is too busy scowling down at her splotchy-looking staff to notice him cleaning up around her.

"She keeps trying to one up me!" Sakura huffs. "It's not enough that she's a mage too, but she's even—"

"Crazier than you?" He says dryly, interrupting the oncoming rant.

It works. His words stop Sakura in her tracks, but the frown on her face becomes deeper. The atmosphere in Sakura's bedroom shifts. He can almost feel the heaviness settling around them like a blanket.

"Do you think the others have noticed it?" Sakura asks quietly.

He thinks of Ino's ever shifting mood, and her eyes that constantly flicker between two shades of color. He thinks of how young Ino seems to be one moment before suddenly changing into someone so old.

"I don't think so. They're just children. They don't understand a lot of things," he eventually replies with.

The only ones who know about Ino's other personality are the Yamanaka and the two of them. Even then, only Sakura and he know the reality of Ino's situation. Why the three of them have days where they meet up and talk in hushed voices.

"Well, at least their vocabulary is improving," Sakura says with false cheer. "I think we may have given the Hokage a stroke with Naruto though."

"Knights don't lisp," he says wryly.

He allows her this change in subject. It's uncomfortable to think about how they could have ended up like Ino, much less talk about it.

They end up chatting about anything and everything that comes to mind during the wait for Sakura's staff to dry. He likes Ino well enough, but he truly treasures the days when it's only the two of them.

(Sakura is his best friend for life, he's decided. Since Ino is so caustic towards Sakura, that means he's also her best friend for life. Sakura doesn't get to have an opinion on this one.)

They do eventually end up discussing heavier topics. It's hard not to when their reality has a set story written for them.

"How do you think Naruto's going to win over his enemies since he can't relate to them?" He asks as Sakura looks over the staff with a critical eye.

"I don't know. We've messed things up so much," Sakura bites her lip. "He might not be able to win over anyone. We'll all probably die by sand monster or pain monster."

Sakura's entire form radiates doom and despair, and he stares at her in disbelief. For someone so smart, he thinks, she sure can be an idiot sometimes.

"Naruto? Our Naruto?" He asks as if needing clarification. "The same Naruto who managed to convince both Itachi and Shisui to pretend to be Morgana's henchmen and take us all out to eat?"

That had been a day. The two Uchiha had been on official clan duty when the group had bumped into them, but Naruto wouldn't take no for answer. He's never seen so many angry, old Uchiha at one time, but Sasuke, Itachi and Shisui had seemed absurdly pleased despite the public dressing down.

Neither Itachi nor Shisui regretted it if their continued presence is any indication.

"Maybe he's still stupidly charismatic," Sakura concedes, "but there's just too much change. What if nothing goes right?"

"What do you mean by right?" He asks. "Because from where I'm standing, it just means we're living life as it comes like normal people."

Sakura goes quiet, and he takes the time to check on Akamaru. His partner is downstairs with Sakura's mother who adores the puppy. Akamaru, having not learned to dull the senses yet, can't stand the smell of paint.

He finds Akamaru curled up on in Mrs. Haruno's lap, listening to her reading a book. He gets a plate of apple slices and a reminder to air out Sakura's room once they're done with their project.

Sakura looks to be having an epiphany by the time he gets back.

"Alright," Sakura says to her hands, "okay."

She doesn't expand on her words. He settles down next to her and waits. Sakura's mind, he's come to find, is always going in three directions at once. He wonders which way she's decided on.

"We're taking control of this story," Sakura tells him with no uncertainty, green eyes daring him to argue. "I'm the game master here, and what I say goes. If we're throwing everything out the window, we may as well burn it."

Oh good, it's the scary direction.

"I'm going to focus on learning seals and forging Naruto into the Hokage he's meant to be," Sakura informs him. "I'm going to make it so Sasuke will regret even _thinking_ about leaving. Orochimaru can't put a curse seal on him if I do it first."

Very scary apparently. Sakura's eyes glint, and for a moment he sees the spark that hovers between genius and madness. Ino may be crazier than Sakura, but it's honestly not by much.

"Guess I better step up my game skills then and become unbeatable during the day," he says. "I'll be the brawns to your brains."

As nightmarish as the thought is, his mother won't say no to beating the clan techniques into him. He's not cut out for things like seal work, but he can definitely watch Sakura's back. Maybe he can even be the loud distraction while she hides in the shadows.

"But first, how about we go get our missing—"

"Fine," Sakura cuts him off with a huff, "if it will stop you from bugging me about it. It's been weeks!"

He almost dances in victory. He's been begging Sakura to agree to finish their collection for what feels like forever. A smile tugs at Sakura's lips, and the hint of madness in her eyes recedes to another time.

(The new look for Sakura's staff is too terrible, and he can't ignore it. Taking over, he redoes the paint, etching in nostalgic Native American symbols with a fine brush once dry. If Sakura recognizes them, she doesn't say anything.)

He doesn't waste time and corners his mother at breakfast the next day.

"You want what?" Ma chokes.

"Can you take me to the Aburame clan grounds?" He repeats.

"Brat, I am busy—"

"Then could you take me when you're not?"

His mother's face would be funny if he didn't know just thinking so would earn her ire. He does his best to keep his puppy dog eyes going strong. At least being tiny has some benefits. Akamaru backs him up and lets out a pathetic whine.

"Why?" Ma asks as if the world is crumbling around their table.

He knows he's got her when his mother takes that tone; Kuromaru does too if that huff is anything to go by.

"I want the whole set," he answers honestly.

His mother looks like someone told her the ninken have turned into cats. Like death basically. He keeps pleading with his eyes, and Ma lets out an aggravated sigh.

"Damn it, fine. Don't come crying to me when you find you can't stand 'em," Ma warns.

(As much as his mother hates his friendship with the other clan heirs, Ma acknowledges there's no changing his mind. He's going to get the Aburame heir with or without her help.)

The Aburame compound is different from his. Instead of grassy plains and dogs, there's an amazing amount of vegetation and bugs that cover every inch of space. The different types of plants are most likely for the bugs' benefit, but it has the effect of giving the clan grounds an exotic look.

"Shibi, get the hell out here!" Ma hollers.

He flinches from behind his mother, and Akamaru lets out a small whimper from atop his head. The Aburame holding them up curls defensively, and he gives them a sympathetic look.

His mother is terrifying on a good day.

"Tsume," is the stern greeting.

The stare down between his mother and Shibi dissolves from there, turning into a bizarre trade of words.

"Oi, you bastard, took you long enough!" "My apologies. You're inability to wait slipped my mind." "Ah, forgot how much of a _bastard_ you could be." "I believe it is your clan that deals with bastards."

Honestly, the two of them must be good friends to want to stand out here and cut each other down. Ma would never willingly remain in the presence of someone she hated. It's probably the same for Shibi.

"Oi, was that a knock on my kid?" Ma snarls, fingers moving threateningly.

Yeah, he's on his own. Giving the two adults one last glance, he walks towards what he assumes is the main house. The other Aburame makes no move to stop him.

He never makes it to the house; his attention gets caught by something shining in the bushes. On inspection, it appears to be some type of bug that shines like metal. It flies off, and he chases after it without thinking.

As if by fate, he finds himself staring at a tiny child practically swimming in an oversized jacket. Sunglasses stare back at him, and he tries to gauge whether this is the kid he's looking for. For all he knows, this could be another Aburame child.

"Jeweled beetle," the boy suddenly says.

He blinks and tilts his head. The sudden pain in his hair reminds him of Akamaru's position.

"It's a jeweled beetle. What you were chasing," the boy clarifies at his confusion.

He nods as if enlightened. The boy says nothing else, and they're left in an uncomfortable staring contest. Nothing in his memory helps him figure out the kid's identity.

Oh well, he's never been one for subtle.

"You Shino?" He asks.

The boy hesitates before giving him the shallowest of nods. He grins, pleased. Akamaru's tiny tap reminds him to continue speaking instead of standing there like a weirdo.

"I'm Kiba," he says, "and I want to be your friend."

Maybe it sounds cheesy, but it's true. All the Knights are his friends.

"Why?" Shino asks, stunned.

There's a hundred ways to answer this. He could make up something about their parents, or he can deliver a one-liner that would make Sasuke seethe with jealousy. He settles for the truth.

"All the clan kids our age meet up and play. We play make believe and have fun. Most of us don't have any friends outside each other, so," he shrugs, "I'd like you to join."

He doesn't say that he wants to get to know his potential teammate, that he's looking forward to the changes Rookie 9 being friends bring.

"What is it. That you mean by 'make believe?' " Shino asks tentatively.

He explains the game in detail, leaving nothing out. He talks about the rules, the names, and even the other players. It's just a gut feeling, but he believes he has a bigger chance of winning Shino over with more information rather than less.

"It sounds. Fun," Shino speaks haltingly once he's finished, "but you do not want me."

It's his turn to raise his eyebrows and ask, "Why?" The solemnness he gets in return to his question is far too heavy for one so young.

"I can do _this_."

Bugs crawl out of every visible portion of Shino's skin and down the Aburame's jacket. He has to admit, for a moment, he can feel his spine tingle at the sight. He clamps down on the feeling and sends Shino an unimpressed look.

"Yeah, we all have clan techniques except for Naruto and Sakura. It's nothing I didn't know about," he says calmly even as Akamaru whimpers softly at the changing scents.

"You're afraid," Shino says stubbornly.

He's close to rolling his eyes actually. Honestly, it is a pretty chilling sight, but it's one he'll get used to after four or five times.

"You're making my nose itch," he replies, "but no. Not afraid."

He means it. The kid in front of him looks ready to bolt at a moment's notice. It's actually making him want to extend his claws and keep his prey from escaping.

"The others will. Be afraid of me," Shino says with certainty.

"And they'll get over it," he says just as certain. "Give up. I already picked your name, so you have no choice."

He should have just gone this route to begin with. The Uzumaki Naruto route of "You're my friend cause I say so, no take backs." Shino seems to be at a loss for words. That's okay; he can talk for the both of them.

"I already ran it past Sakura, so welcome to the Knights of the Round Table, Sir Kay," he says with a fist over his heart.

He thought about Shino's name for days. He wants Shino to be an important knight, yet Sir Kay was most famous for being cruel and disliked despite being intensely loyal.

The original version of Sir Kay had no such hang-ups however and was terrifying with incredible powers. Well, it's not like Sakura's the only one who can bend the rules.

"But—"

"Hey, question. Do you cry a lot?" He interrupts whatever unimportant thing Shino was about to say.

"No," Shino answers in bewilderment.

"Scream a lot? Throw a fit? Secretly crazy? Takes naps when no one's watching and lies about it?"

"No," Shino repeats woodenly.

"You are now my favorite," he decides.

And it's true. Shino is different to the others. Unlike them, he chose Shino. Ma understands this better than anyone; her face drops the moment he walks up to her still arguing with Shibi, one arm wrapped around Shino's.

("I went years without having to see Shibi's stupid face," Ma says before downing a cup of sake, "and now I'm going to have to deal with _birthdays_ and _parties_."

"How awful," his aunt manages to say with a straight face. "Not like you have to put up with the Hyuuga or anything!"

Ma gnashes her teeth, and he ducks beneath the dinner table with his plate out of precaution. He doesn't think his mother would risk a good bottle of alcohol, but there's no telling when a fistfight will break out in this household.

"I can at least try to give Hiashi a heart attack, but those blasted Aburame ain't no fun to poke at. Shibi's the worst," Ma grouches.

He takes a bite out of some deer meat before feeding the rest to a begging Akamaru. He's glad Ma's willing to accept his new friend. He hopes Shino likes dogs since the two of them are going to be hanging out often. He can feel it.

"Kiba, pretend to be civilized and eat at the table," his mother eventually says.)


	7. Brunor

...

Sakura is true to her word: she begins to practice calligraphy and spends more time advising Naruto. It's subtle, but Myrddin's careful questions and thought exercises are helping King Arturus take control of the battlefield and his knights.

In response to Sakura's determination, he ups the physical exertion for their playtime. Duels are now mandatory, and everything from swords to clan techniques are allowed. He loses his wooden sword to Neji's palm strike one day, and his mother buys him a more suitable replacement.

("If you were going to give it up, you would of by now," Ma grouses, watching him go through a stack of training swords with narrow eyes.

He goes through a basic form Itachi taught him with a smaller sword. It's got a much better grip, but he sort of misses the length and weight of his old one. Turning away from traditional ninja swords, he eyes the more unique variety. He ends up getting a child's training broadsword.

"Can't believe it, a _kenjutsu_ user," Ma says sourly. "An expensive one at that!"

He doesn't take it to heart. He's already expressed interest in the traditional clan techniques which is the only thing his mother cares about. He won't be the first Inuzuka sword user either. It's going to be fun combining the two fighting styles.)

They let Ino in on their new game plan, and the Yamanaka meets them beautifully. Under the watchful eye of a fellow clansman, Nimue begins lessons on connecting to chakra—something all Knights must know, she insists.

It's not world-breaking, but it's going to give everyone an advantage in the academy. Less so for Neji, Sasuke, and Shikamaru who already have a good handle on their chakra, but it does wonders for the rest of them.

("This is dumb," Naruto whines, hands clasped together.

"Oh?" Sakura's eyes glint dangerously. "Is the King complaining? What are you going to do when your knights are better at ninjutsu than you?"

"Let him whine," Neji chips in. "The King doesn't need ninjutsu."

"It doesn't matter since I'll be better at it anyways," Sasuke agrees.

"It's okay, King Arturus. You don't need to be the strongest. I'll protect you," Chouji says loyally, hammering in the final nail.

Naruto's face balloons with anger. Akamaru lets out a snickering bark, and he bites part of his fist to hold in his laughter. Connecting to chakra is a lot like meditating; of course an absurdly young Naruto would have a hard time with it, never mind an older one.

"Leave me alone, I'm connecting!" Naruto snaps, closing his eyes with a scowl.

Sakura's waves everyone away with a smirk, and Ino starts the lesson over from the beginning. If there's one benefit this Naruto has, he thinks as he shuts his own eyes, it's friends willing to simultaneously shower and threaten encouragement.)

It's not all work however. He makes sure to have fun while he still can. Helping Naruto learn how to prank those people who whisper "demon" with cold eyes, prodding Shikamaru into finding games that everyone can play, catching bugs with Shino, trying new candies with Chouji—these are the memories he presses deeply into his heart for the rest of his life.

(He leans against the building with his arms crossed. Shino stands stiffly next to him, and they both watch the people streaming by with critical eyes. Technically, they're on patrol. Not that they can do anything if something happens, but King Arturus' orders are absolute unless Myrddin overrules them.

Akamaru shifts and screams start up from the shop across the street. He smirks as the infuriated yelling causes any curious onlookers to hurry away.

"I do believe," Shino pauses, "that this goes against shayari."

Shino's getting better at speaking, but the Aburame still talks with a stilting speech. Still, victory to him for getting Shino to speak on a regular basis. The others still can't pull more than five words out of the kid.

"I'd say this is justice," he says with a grin.

Akamaru lets out an agreeing yip, and Shino gives him an unimpressed look. He soaks in the furious ranting that can be heard faintly and goes back to people watching in earnest.

"Setting off paint bombs. Destroying merchandise for overcharging on accident?" Shino asks, frowning.

It wasn't an accident. Naruto's been overcharged since the idiot started shopping there. Not by much, not enough to make any of Naruto's minders notice and step in, but it burns to know how much the kid's been swindled.

"Sis helped with the bombs. Let me tell you why," he says.

Perhaps he should have explained before dragging Shino into being his partner in crime, but how awesome is it that this kid is willing to plant the paint bombs while he does distraction without knowing anything? True friendship right here.)

A point of change comes when Neji expresses a desire to enter the academy a year later than his age group. Specifically, Neji wants to enter with the rest of the group and share the same class.

"Are they going to let you?" He asks, knowing the Hyuuga prodigy will understand what he means.

"They will when I say it's to protect Lady Hinata," Neji replies back evenly.

Hiashi will most likely not deny this request despite what the elders may say; Neji's and Hinata's quiet friendship seems to strike a nostalgic chord with the Hyuuga head. It had been strange seeing so much emotion on the man's face at Hinata's birthday celebration.

"You're going to thrash me and Sasuke," he says with humor. "The teacher will have to sit on him during class to keep him from taking revenge."

It takes both Sasuke and him teaming up to have an even fight with Neji. He can only imagine how in-class sparring will go. Neji's a genius for a reason; it's actually a bit concerning that the Hyuuga won't have anyone to challenge him during class.

("Well, it's obvious isn't it?" Ino says, placing four cards down. "Got any twos?"

Sakura lets out a curse and hands over a playing card. He taps his thigh with a pout. Between Sakura and Ino, he barely gets a turn. Akamaru yawns from his lap.

"What is?" He asks.

"Just go get his rival," Ino replies before holding out a hand towards him. "Twos?"

He gives her the card with a sigh. He wonders what possessed him to agree to this game. He's just glad it isn't poker. He can only imagine what _that_ would be like.

"Lamorak?" Sakura suggests before turning to Ino with bared teeth. "Go fish, hah!"

He lets out a noncommittal hum. Lamorak had quite the temper and physical ability which could work, but it doesn't quite match up with what he has in mind.)

Finding Rock Lee is harder than he'd thought it would be. He has no doubt he'll recognize the boy, not with such a unique face, but Konoha is huge. With the exception of Shino, everything until now has been pure chance, and Lee doesn't belong to any clan to make hunting him down easier.

Shino helps him track the unknown boy with only a vague description and without question. He's not sure why wanting a boy with a weird-looking face to join the group because he felt like it works, but together, they manage to find Lee under the guise of screening through potential recruits.

"He's over there. You simply can't miss those eyebrows. I'm sure he'll be happy to make some friends for once," the woman smiles at them condescendingly before walking off.

Akamaru lets out a sniff from the top of his head, and he watches the lady disappear with disgust. She had all but cooed over him as if he was a brainless kid with a puppy. Sometimes he forgets how young he is.

"Doesn't something seem off with wanting a stranger cause of their face?" He asks in disbelief.

"It isn't a lie," Shino points out.

He gives up the argument before it even begins. It's not like he can explain the need for Lee to keep their resident genius from leaving for crazy town.

They find the boy doing chin-ups with a broken fence. Sweat dribbles down into bizarrely round eyes, and a long braid of black hair swings back and forth with each movement. He knows without a doubt that this is Rock Lee.

He reaches up to give Akamaru a scratch and takes a breath. He hates giving speeches, but this is for Neji.

"Hey, got a minute?" He calls out, causing the boy to pause.

The recruitment speech doesn't go well, and Shino disappears halfway through. He tries to convince a hard-headed Lee that joining has benefits to no avail.

"Thank you, but I cannot! I must work hard if I am to get into the academy!" Lee declares, pumping both fists.

He frowns, unsure of how to proceed from here. It's not like he didn't know there was a chance to be rejected, but he doesn't quite have the patience to wear down Lee's resolve either.

"Nothing I say can change your mind?" He asks.

Lee's head shakes, and he knows there is nothing he can do. The boy turns away from him, going back to the fence. He's got Lee's scent, so maybe he can track the kid down another day, preferably with Naruto.

Shino suddenly appears next to him, arms laden down with—

"Is that rope?" He asks incredulously.

"Let us take him to Naruto," Shino says, sunglasses glinting.

(Lee doesn't see them coming. Perhaps it's a coward's way to strike from behind, but Shino and he _are_ training to be ninja. They're simply…fulfilling the mission objective)

He grabs a hogtied Lee's arms, and Shino grabs Lee's legs. They find the weight heavy but manageable. The boy watches them with even wider eyes, making no effort to speak around the gag.

"Sorry about this, but you'll understand when you meet him," he offers to Lee.

"I am not sorry. I went through effort to find you," Shino says flatly.

Akamaru lets out quiet laughter, and he tries not to cackle. He stands by his previous statement: Shino is his favorite.

"What's his name?" Shino asks as if they aren't carrying a tied up Lee down the very public street.

"Brunor," he answers.

("Brunor?" Sakura repeats with eyebrows furrowed. "I don't know that one."

"He got rejected from the Knights of the Round Table because of his looks. He was always made fun of, but he was a great guy. His awesome rescues proved his worth in the end," he tells her.

"Yeah, that's Lee alright," Sakura smiles.)


	8. A Fair Unknown

...

"I'm going, Ma!" Her tiny kid yells, slamming the door even though she's told him not to almost every day.

She snorts and throws the dishes into the sink for Hana to clean. One day that girl will snap and demand fair treatment, but she's got news for darling daughter: she's the mother here. What she says goes.

She'll only listen to complaints once there are grandchildren running around. The whining over raising hellions will be hilarious for sure, and it'll practically be music to her ears. Retribution for what she has to go through, she'll say with a smirk.

(What she'll never say is that she hopes to live long enough to see her grandchildren whose existence means her children will get to live on.)

"We should get going too," Kuromaru reminds her.

She lets out a huff at the ninken. She's not old enough to have memory problems or young enough to need a minder. Kuromaru rolls his one eye at her.

While her teeth ache to tear the throat out of Konoha's enemies, the mission desk will have to wait another day. She journeys to the Yamanaka grounds with Kuromaru following her flicker technique flawlessly. They slip into the compound unnoticed by all.

Her target leaves a window open, and she doesn't bother announcing her presence or even knocking. Inoichi, startled by the sudden intrusion in his home office, clamps down on a reaction to her appearance. The subtle change in the man's scent tells her he's not as collected as he would have her believe.

"Alright, start talking. What's so important that you're going around the official channel?" She barks out, leaning against his desk with arms crossed.

"There's a perfectly good chair right there," Inoichi points out dryly.

To spite him, Kuromaru climbs onto it without a word. The chair disappears under the ninken's large frame. She raises an eyebrow at the Yamanaka.

"Cordial as ever, Tsume," Inoichi remarks.

"Get on with it. I didn't follow your convoluted directions for a chat and tea," she tells him.

She's good, but stealth really isn't her strength. The only way she managed to sneak in was to follow the trail laid out for her. Of course, it's not sneaking if the clan head wants you to infiltrate their home without being seen.

"Fugaku isn't happy that his children spend so much time with ours," Inoichi says with a sigh.

"Fugaku ain't happy about a lot of things," she snorts. "So what?"

The man hadn't been the life of the party before getting shunned to the village's outskirts, but Fugaku was downright ornery now. She can't say he doesn't deserve it; instead of reaching out to prove his clan steadfast and loyal, Fugaku went the other way without so much as a backward glance.

"How sure are you that the Uchiha situation is getting worse?" Inoichi asks, seemingly changing topics.

She knows better of course. Inoichi is many things, but scatterbrained isn't one of them. He wouldn't have dragged her away from work to gossip.

"They're about to explode like a crudely drawn explosion tag," she tells him. "The police force is weakening themselves on purpose."

She would know; she's been tasked with watching the Uchiha. It's off the record of course, but who better to be Konoha's watchdogs than her clan? Who better qualified to rip off the traitors' legs than her?

Inoichi leans back with a thoughtful hum. She taps her arm with impatience. Just her luck that the Yamanaka wants to play at being roundabout today.

"Do you believe our children will remain friends throughout the academy?" Inoichi suddenly asks.

"As much as I believe their game is only a phase," she says flatly.

Inoichi winces, and Kuromaru lets out a snicker. The only ones who take the so-called game seriously are the ones in this room. Even Shikaku, stubborn fool, thinks that the academy will straighten the children out of this "knight" thing.

She wants to see his face the moment he realizes Shikamaru will be needing kenjutsu training.

"I may have something of an idea that involves the children," Inoichi admits. "Perhaps it'll only slow down the situation or affect nothing at all."

She glares as the Yamanaka trails off with a pensive expression. If he thinks he can just mention her kid and stop there, he's got another thing coming.

"This better be good, Inoichi," she says, slamming a hand against the desk.

Inoichi only hesitates for a second a longer. She likes to believe it's her womanly charms that convince him to speak up.

"Tell me, what do you think about Uchiha Itachi becoming a kenjutsu instructor?" Inoichi asks.

It takes her a moment to run that through her head.

"You're kidding," she says, disbelieving.

Inoichi's face tells her he's not.

"You want to make that shrimp a teacher? Are you mad?" She asks, checking him over for signs of snapping. "He's _nine_."

"They want him to take the chunin exams next year," Inoichi tells her grimly. "We both know what happens to geniuses that are pushed to their limits."

Oh, she knows alright. Kakashi is a prime example of that brand of crazy. The saner clans know to hide their more talented children away behind walls of smoke. For the clans like the Uchiha and Hyuuga however…

"You want to keep him from breaking?" She eyes Inoichi.

The man stares back evenly. No, that's not right; Inoichi's not that considerate. Especially if it involves his beloved daughter.

"You want control of Fugaku's kid," she says, switching tracks. "Both of his kids will be under our eyes. We can use 'em as hostages."

"I was thinking more of getting the future Uchiha clan head away from troublesome ideals and into a more _knightly_ one," Inoichi says mildly.

She throws her head back and laughs. She only has a vague idea of what's going on in that blond head of his, but she can already see Fugaku's bulging eyes. Oh, this is going to be _good_.

"Fine, I'll take the brat on," she grins, "but I ain't taking on those other two brats."

"You already knew what I was going to ask?" Inoichi blinks.

"It's obvious. Getting sloppy in your old age," she says, grinning wider at Inoichi's affronted look. "Now, who do I have to kill? You wouldn't drag me here under secrecy otherwise."

She never imagined having an Uchiha student—any student really, she's never had the time—let alone Fugaku's oldest son. Kuromaru lets out a displeased noise as the details get finalized.

"They smell like cats," the ninken complains.

"Suck it up," she says in response.

Her day ends up getting better too. Perhaps shopping for the weapons to be used in a planned murder isn't the wisest decision she's made, but as Inoichi's paying for it, she intends to get the good stuff.

She's not known for buying expensive wire, so maybe it'll work out. She's weighing her options between a throwing knife or a shuriken when her attention gets grabbed by an adorable midget.

"You have the same face marks as him, and you've got a dog!" Adorable midget approaches her with wide eyes.

She considers the little girl staring up at her in excitement. Hair twisted up in two buns and out of the face, no clan symbols, smells like weapons and grease—a ninja kid, but not a clan one.

A brave kid too, to approach her while she's weapon shopping. She knows plenty of grown ninja that can't say the same.

"You talking about Kiba?" She asks. "Gawain?" She tries at the girl's blank look.

Yep, there it is. The girl's face lights up, and the adorable midget begins _gushing_. Apparently her son cuts quite the heroic figure, able to save kittens and take down evil doers with a swing of the sword.

And also able to tie excellent knots on prisoners of war. It's that last one that clues her in on the adorable midget's true face.

"I need to join," the girl declares. "I _have_ to."

She could tell the girl where the brats tend to meet up to play. She could give her kid plenty of warning about potentially crazy fangirls. She could do a lot of things technically.

"If you're in the mood for ramen, I think I'll send him out for some tomorrow," she says, grinning. "He likes aggressive girls the most."


	9. Gingalin

...

Pretending to be a knight shouldn't be a life changing decision, but not even Sakura can disagree with how much influence their silly game has. He can't speak for Ino, who keeps her silence with a mysterious smile, but Sakura and he are falling into their characters effortlessly.

He means in both ways. Sometimes he wakes up thinking: Kiba, future ninja of Konoha. Other times he wakes up ready to defend King and kingdom as Sir Gawain.

He would be anxious about becoming a samurai reject, but his mother and sister really are supportive of his life decisions. Perhaps a bit too supportive if this newest recruit is anything to go by.

"Girls can be ninja too!" Tenten cries, body language daring him to argue with her.

"Uh, yeah?" He agrees, unsure why this is in question. "Obviously? They have kunoichi classes, and you met my mother."

He wondered why Ma threw him out the door with some money and an order to go eat at Ichiraku's. Ma had an alarming smirk on her face as well. What kind of bizarre luck did he have for this girl to have met his mother?

Still, he doesn't quite understand Tenten's reasons for wanting to join. Akamaru shifts on top of his head, and he moves the ninken into his arms. His partner is becoming more sensitive to his moods; hopefully it means Akamaru is getting ready to speak.

"Your mother's so cool," Tenten gushes before frowning, "but she's the only one."

He tilts his head in an unspoken question.

"My dad—I _heard_ ," Tenten stresses, "that most girls grow up and marry or not fight. I want to be a ninja."

Oh. He gets it now. It's not something that comes to mind considering he's constantly surrounded by women high up on the food chain, but he knows where Tenten is coming from. Sakura sure rants about it enough.

No matter how progressive the hidden villages are, women still have a stigma attached to them. Kunoichi are mainly valued as infiltrators and wives for ninja clans. Even the most powerful women are expected to retire into motherhood eventually.

"What's that got to do with the Knights?" He asks, still confused over this point.

"I watch you a lot," Tenten admits. "Everyone's treated equally. You guys are strong, and you don't make the girls stay away."

That's another thing he's noticed. Children here like to divide themselves into groups by gender. It's probably a subconscious mimicry of the adults around them. The exclusive kunoichi classes in the academy aren't going to help that divide either.

"I'm not stupid enough to do that. My rival will probably be a girl," he says flatly.

He believes it too. Hopefully he won't meet her like he did Tenten—a pair of chopsticks flying by his ear followed by an empty bowl and a loud declaration.

"Right! So you have to let me join!" Tenten claps her hands together. "Please?"

He considers the wide, pleading eyes. Despite Naruto's and Lee's complaints, the Knights of the Round Table are now an exclusive group. "No new members!" Sakura and he declare after Lee's formal knighting.

("Surely we can spread shayari to other—"

"No, Brunor."

"But new friends!"

"No, King Arturus.")

Still, he thinks he can make room for one more.

"You're going to need a name and a sword," he ends up saying.

The beaming smile he gets back is potentially worth the headache of "But you said" he can already hear being thrown around. Still, he's left with the impossible.

What _is_ he going to call Tenten?

("Lamorak," Sakura says.

"Rejected," he replies immediately.

"It's the only thing I've got," Sakura cries, throwing her hands up in defeat.

He flops onto his back to stare up at the sky as grass digs into his arms and legs. Akamaru's paw reaches out to his leg, and Sakura huffs next to him. Sasuke's one-sided bickering with Neji floats in the air like bad background music.

"How about Gingalin?" He asks.

"You'll have to explain that one to me," Sakura says.

It took months to remember the name as Gingalin wasn't the most prominent character. Tenten doesn't quite fit the knight—no one truly does—but it's a closer match than anything else he could come up with.

"Gingalin, The Fair Unknown, had a lot of adventures that the other knights don't know about. In fact, the knights don't know a lot about him other than the fact that he's pretty," he tells her.

Sakura makes a face at him, and he shrugs.

"Gawain's secret fairy child that he didn't even know about. Go figure.")

Lee and Tenten agree to wait and enter the academy alongside Neji. He wonders if it's Naruto's charisma or their accidental religious indoctrination that convinces the two.

("It's not a religion," Sakura hisses between her teeth.

He raises his eyebrows and turns to where the majority of the group is. Neji and Ino aside, the rest of the Knights surround Naruto, who speaks from on top of a stump.

"It's like a bowl of hot noodles," Naruto croons, "filling, warm, and the reason to get up in the morning!"

He turns back to Sakura.

"Alright, maybe," she concedes with a pinched expression.)

The days to the academy grow ever closer, and with it comes even more change. Life is truly bizarre, he thinks while munching on a piece of egg and staring across the table. Uchiha Itachi stares back as if just as shocked as he is.

"My apprentice," Ma announces. "You brats already know each other, so I ain't making any fancy introductions."

Well, okay then. Clearly something big has gone down behind the scenes, but he can't fathom how this result came about. He resolves not to think about it. It's his secret technique to avoid pulling out his hair.

"Sasuke wants a better bokken," he says before stuffing his face.

"Perhaps when he gets taller," Itachi remarks, making no move towards any of the food on the table.

Ma has no time for timidity; his mother all but shoves a plate full of breakfast into the Uchiha's lap. Watching Itachi try to wrangle out of eating is more amusing than it should be. He makes sure Akamaru gets a good view.

"I don't give a damn if you're not hungry," Ma growls. "You're with me now. Get that protein in you. I won't have Fugaku crying about his brat passing out."

Itachi loses the argument in the end. The Uchiha will eventually learn that no one wins when it comes to the demon that is his mother.

(Sasuke gets wind of Itachi's new morning schedule. They gain another addition to their breakfast table immediately. Sasuke's parents are less than pleased, or so he gathers from the chatter around him.)

Against expectations, nothing happens when it comes time to enter the academy. He looks around and comes to a sudden realization that change has already taken place.

"Say that again," Neji commands darkly.

The kid in front of Neji pales and moves away from Hinata. The Hyuuga heiress is looking down at the ground, hands clasped together, but he knows it's not out of shyness. The shaking isn't out of fear either.

"Remember, only draw your sword for a worthy cause," Neji tells Hinata softly.

Hinata nods and breathes deeply. She's probably counting backwards from fifteen. It's a little trick Ino taught her to calm down.

"I will show everyone the worth of shayari!" A loud yell grabs everyone's attention.

"Calm down, Lee!" Tenten says with a shake of the head. "Actions, not words!"

Tenten begins moving into a martial arts form, and Lee copies her movements only a second later. It's Tenten's favorite way to quiet Lee down. No drawbacks, only benefits, she tends to say.

"Aw, come on! I'll pay attention, I swear!" Naruto pleads to Sakura.

"You'll get this back after class," Sakura says, placing a manga book under her arm.

Sakura had the brilliant idea to teach Naruto reading by way of manga. It worked a little too well. Getting Naruto to _stop_ reading is Sakura's new task. Naruto falls to his knees, crying out in despair to an unmoving Sakura.

He shakes his head. Good luck, Sakura.

"Hey, this is my man. Don't even look at him!" Ino snarls, arm looped with Sasuke's.

He admires Sasuke's poker face in spite of the situation. Every female in class is already vying for the Uchiha's attention.

"Hey, Chouji, Shikamaru, get over here!" Ino yells, slowly moving Sasuke behind her.

No doubt Ino is helping solve Sasuke's fangirl crisis before it even begins. Sasuke is used to the extraordinary girls of their group; the kid is completely unprepared for interacting with these normal, lovesick girls.

"Ugh, fine," Shikamaru rolls out of a nearby bush, causing some of the girls to squeal in fright.

"Hey, Sasuke," Chouji greets cheerfully, stepping out of the same bush far more gracefully.

"Chouji," Sasuke acknowledges. "Shikamaru," Sasuke says more blandly.

Shikamaru and Chouji stand in front of Ino, effectively blocking Sasuke from view. None of the girls feel brave enough to attempt to get past the new wall blocking them.

"The real journey begins here."

He doesn't jump, having caught the scent beforehand. Shino moves next to him, and Akamaru lets out a quiet bark in greeting. He brushes his shoulder with Shino's, getting a slight buzzing sound in response.

"We'll make it," he says simply.

Maybe not as ninja, maybe not as knights either. Whatever they end up being, it'll be enough to bring down Konoha's enemies, of that he has no doubt.

"We're the Knights of the Round Table after all," he grins.


	10. Lamorak

...

"If Naruto and Sasuke have children, we can call them Mordred and Galahad," Sakura whispers to him one day during class.

He pauses from doodling in his notebook to shoot the teacher a wary look who is currently hissing through clenched teeth at Naruto—which will probably turn into a shouting match—so he considers Sakura's silly remark.

"I doubt the game will go on that long," he says even as Akamaru lets out a thoughtful sound from his lap.

He ends up being wrong of course, and the game really does carry on that far.

("How?" He asks, taking care to speak quietly to avoid disturbing the bundle in his lap.

"I made them sign a contract when we became genin," Sakura tells him smugly.

She's holding her own precious cargo, and he lets out a soft laugh. Neither Naruto nor Sasuke would honor such a deal if they hadn't wanted to name their kids after a Knight.

He strokes Mordred's cheek lightly, taking amusement in the way the little face scrunches up at the feeling. Sakura reaches over to pinch his arm without jostling Galahad.

"If you make him scream again, I won't help you this time," Sakura says.

Save me, Akamaru whines while pawing at his leg frantically.

He smirks down at the ninken. Attached to Akamaru's tail is a tiny fist. Slobbering on the other tiny fist is a toddler clothed in puppy-themed pajamas. Narrow eyes gaze into his, daring him to order the toddler to let go.

He gently pushes the brat away from Akamaru with his foot. The ninken lets out a sigh of relief, and the brat starts pouting. He snorts as the toddler turns away with arms crossed.

"Too bad you didn't go with Florence," Sakura sighs. "We could have a complete set of mini-knights."

"I will never name any of my kids Florence," he says firmly. "I regret ever telling you about that.")

He's not the only one who thought their game would end at some point. From what Ma says later, most of their parents assumed they'd eventually give in to academy brainwashing.

His mother also laughed while telling him this, so he's not sure if Ma ever believed it was just a phase.

(It was never a phase. The adults look at the swords and childish spouting of honor and justice with the word "samurai" on their tongues but never find an outside influence. Konoha has no idea what will end up hitting it.)

The Uchiha Incident goes down much differently than it should have. It comes as a shock considering Sakura and he never came up with a way to divert the event. They tried their best, but it simply wasn't possible for a bunch of six and seven year olds.

("We've got our hooks in Itachi and Shisui, but there's nothing we can do," Sakura hisses, throwing two cards down. "We're still too young to make a difference."

"I'll talk to Ma about giving Itachi lessons on the effects of psychological trauma," he offers, unable to think of anything else.

Ino silently grabs a card from Sakura. The Yamanaka puts two cards down and offers her remaining card to him. He frowns at the three cards in his hands.

"Looks like you're the old maid," Ino says breezily.)

In the end, the Uchiha Incident does not refer to Itachi slaughtering the clan and leaving the village. What happens is the murder of every Uchiha elder during a suspicious meeting, the body of Danzo being discovered next to them, and Shisui gaining an eyepatch.

He has a theory involving Shisui's special Sharingan ability, but he knows well enough to leave it alone.

They hide it well, but he's too attuned to Uchiha body language to think that Shisui and Itachi's bowed heads are out of anything other than satisfaction. His mother remains a grim figure throughout the incident, but there's a proud gleam in her eye.

Fugaku, from the one time he's seen the man, bows his head out of fear. He can't say he blames the Uchiha head; his mother gets more terrifying by the day.

As for Sasuke—

"I'm going to overhaul the police force," Sasuke vows over breakfast.

He pauses with a piece of leftover deer hovering near his mouth. Itachi and Shisui decline to say anything, choosing to hum peaceably while Ma lets out an acknowledging grunt.

"Why?" He asks when no one else does.

"I've been looking over reports for them during the," Sasuke nods in place of words and he nods back, "but everything's a mess. Everything. When I try to bring it up, they just tell me to forget about it. None of them are doing their jobs."

He spots a familiar gleam in Sasuke's eye. It's the Sakura look, he thinks, and holds his breath.

"Everyone in the police force deserves to _die_ ," Sasuke utters.

It's said so darkly and seriously that it causes Shisui to actually choke. Itachi hurries to save Shisui's life, and Ma laughs until she cries. Sasuke smirks ominously, and he wonders if the massacre has only been averted for the moment.

This is your fault, Akamaru tells him from the floor. He makes a face at the ninken.

Slander. He has nothing to do with the Uchiha Incident and Sasuke's new crusade against the police force. If anything, Ino's the one that looks suspiciously smug.

(Later, he will eventually realize while he's drinking some water that technically everything is his fault; he's the one who started the game in the first place. He'll spit the water out into someone's face, leading to an international incident.)

With most of the Uchiha still alive and no sign of Obito or Madara, life progresses relatively peacefully. Relatively, because while they might be nearing genin age, they're still—

Lancelot sneers and throws the mission objective onto the ground. The sound of breaking glass echoes around the training ground, and the spell to defeat Morgana is ruined.

"Get him!" Nimue says ruthlessly.

Lacelot neatly avoids Nimue's staff aimed at his legs only to run into Bedwyr and Lionel's ambush of palm strikes. An explosive tag counterattacks the ambush, sending all three knights flying backwards.

"What are you doing, Lancelot? Don't support the enemy!" King Arturus bellows, sword waving threateningly in the sunlight.

"Wait, is this about the bentos? Are you mad because we forgot you didn't like natto?" Gingalin asks.

Lancelot's scowl indicates that Gingalin hit the mark. Myrddin covers her face and lets out a frustrated noise. Nimue's eyes roll, and Bedwyr stammers out an apology.

"Either meet my demands or fight me," Lancelot taunts, posing coolly with a reverse styled sword.

"I have neither food nor restraint! I shall fight you!" Brunor announces.

"Oh for—Brunor, don't encourage him!" Myrddin cries.

Brunor unsheathes his sword and dashes away. Lancelot barely gets a sword up in time to block, and a squawking King Arturus rushes to join in. The rest of the knights are left to either join in or get out of the way.

"Can't be helped. Lancelot's just like that. Only a moron would get in the way now," Tristan drawls.

"I respect a man that chooses to fight for food," Percival says admiringly.

"I can't respect someone who would destroy his own brother's birthday gift," Lionel scoffs.

The remains of the glass wind chime glitter mockingly. It had taken a solid month for everyone to agree on a collective gift for Itachi, and it only took Sasuke one selfish moment to break it.

"That wasn't the gift we bought. Why? The one we bought had no brown spots on it," Kay says, sliding in-between Percival and Lionel.

"Figures. The real one was probably switched out with another when we were looking at decorations," Tristan sighs.

"Lancelot only pretended to destroy it by using a fake? But didn't he have to order one just like it ahead of time? And isn't that pretty expensive?" Percival asks

"He'd do it, the dramatic bastard," he says, laughing.

The five of them watch the messy brawl for a long moment. Flashes of blades glint through the madness, and he feels his heart speed up. There are so many openings one could take advantage of.

What a bunch of noise over nothing, Gaheris barks, we should show them what a fight means.

"Sounds good," he grins, unsheathing his sword.

Kay brushes his shoulder in solidarity, and Tristan lets out a groan. Whenever he gets involved, the intensity of the fights tends to climb to astounding levels. He also has a habit of making sure all the knights get involved.

He leaps forward with a laugh; Gaheris and Kay are only half a step behind him. His blood sings, and Lancelot's blade meets his. He thinks, _I am Gawain_. He has never been happier.

("Hey, Kiba," Lord Hokage says through squinted eyes, "why do I have forms for an orphanage, a food reserve, a food stand, and a clinic?"

He scratches the back of his head and wonders how to phrase his statement to sound less like an impulse and better thought-out. Akamaru nudges him, and he just shrugs his shoulders.

"Konoha's a nice place, but there's a lot of problems outside of it. I want to see if I can help a little bit with our nation's less fortunate," he says.

He doesn't say that he's decided to take his name of Gawain seriously, doesn't say that this is just the start of helping those struggling in poverty. That he woke up one day and realized he finally has enough to share.

"I'm assuming you know how much these will cost," Lord Hokage mutters, tapping the huge paper stack.

Even if the food stand and clinic are low budget, he will be losing money. The orphanage and food reserve will be a constant a drain on him, and there will not be enough revenue from his other properties to make up for it. Not to mention the fees, building costs, and taxes.

"I've already got it figured out," he promises.

The initial cost will be heavy, and he'll probably end up taxing his clan a little bit more. Both Shikamaru and Sakura have given him ideas on how to recover however. Hopefully the little orphans like farming and vineyards.

"I'll forward these to the Daimyo," Lord Hokage says. "That guy's an idiot, so it'll take a while for him to get all the paperwork together."

It's amazing that the Hokage knows the Daimyo won't reject any of his requests; granting a ninja clan that much land outside of Konoha wouldn't have been possible before.

"Schedule a meeting with me to talk about the details, and I'll see about getting you assistance for this," Lord Hokage says, waving a paper with the words 'orphanage' written on it.

He bites his tongue before he blurts out, "I'm not going to be brainwashing them to be ninja."

"I'll get with Sakura," he says instead, taking the generous offer for what it is. "Thanks, King Arturus."

Lord Hokage smiles, and he feels terrible for ever doubting Naruto. Konoha has undergone a new direction, so much so that he's here trying to get orphanages and low cost clinics built instead of preparing for the next war.

It's a long road from here, but you're doing good, Akamaru tells him warmly.)

He still ends up in Team 8, and Sakura still goes to Team 7. In fact, everyone ends up in their original teams, but he doesn't call it fate. He rather suspects the higher ups are trying to make sure they can't contaminate other genin with their ideals.

Kurenai-sensei finds Team 8 weird but charming. Kakashi alternates between pretending to hate Team 7 and egging them on. Asuma still ends up with Shikamaru as a pet project, and Gai gets converted. That last one is as scary as it sounds.

"Lee wants you to give Gai-sensei a name," Tenten says dully, eyes glazed over with trauma.

"If Itachi and Shisui don't get one, neither does Gai," he replies.

Akamaru curls up in Tenten's lap to comfort her, and he rubs her back as Tenten tries and fails to recount her day. He feels for her; Tenten is the only sane member of Team 9.

Sakura and he stick to their "no new members" plan all the way until Suna's invasion. To be fair, he can't exactly turn down the request.

"Aren't you supposed to be attacking us?" He asks while looking around at the blood covered rooftop.

Chasing an enemy ninja into an ambush with only Shino for backup had been foolish, but he wasn't about to let anyone get away with hurting Akamaru. His enemies turning into gory paste was not what usually happens.

He tries not to flinch as those blank, green eyes dig into him. Shino shifts to stand in front of him protectively. He's glad Akamaru isn't here; his partner is much safer with the medics than with him.

"Arturus promised," is all Gaara says.

Gaara, a crazy demon host who is currently part of the enemy forces trying to kill his people, wants to join the Knights of the Round Table. He wants to laugh. This is too hilarious.

He takes a deep breath to calm his nerves. Damn you, Naruto, he thinks viciously.

"Right, so first things first. Shayari," he says.

"I'm aware," Gaara says harshly. "Justice and respecting Mother."

He inhales sharply and begins coughing. Just what did Naruto _say_ to Gaara? Shino's back leans into his arm, and he gets his act together.

"Right, welcome Sir Bors," he says, not even attempting to think it through, "first rule of the Knights is no killing other Knights." He lies without remorse.

He gives a short, to-the-point introduction to the Knights of the Round Table. Gaara's unwavering, unblinking eyes make it the hardest speech he's ever given.

"Considering Suna invaded Konoha, our first mission together is to defend Konoha. I hope you like killing Sand ninja," he says, ready to move at any sign of averseness.

The sudden mad look of ecstasy answers his non-question, and he's left following a trail of blood with Shino. Surprisingly enough, Gaara attacks only the ninja from Sand, and the only Suna ninja to survive meeting Gaara is Kankuro and Temari.

"Safir," he points at the tied up Temari, "because I like the name."

"What the hell," Sasuke says, tense and teeth bared towards Gaara.

The jinchuriki stares back at Sasuke expressionlessly. Shino keeps a shoulder brushed against his, and he takes comfort in the fact that he's not the only one out of his depth.

"Dagonet," he points to the unconscious Kankuro, "because I need a fool to make me laugh."

"What. The. Hell," Sasuke repeats brokenly.

The Third Hokage survives the attack, and many Suna ninja surrender at the news of their jinchuriki defecting. Naruto somehow manages to convince the Hokage that, "No, he can live with me. It'll be awesome, just you see. He's gonna be an awesome knight!"

("I'm a puppeteer. My father was the Kazekage," Kankuro bemoans. "I'm not supposed to be living with _tree_ people."

"Say something funny," he says, re-tying his armguard.

His cousin's new prototype has some problems with the straps. He'll have to warn her about them. Luckily, it looks like Akamaru's experimental sword holster is working just fine.

"My life is a joke," Kankuro says miserably.

He throws back his head and laughs.)

The Sand siblings get the defector treatment, meaning lots of mistrust and watching. Still, the bizarre sight of Gaara walking around Konoha with a sword made of sand gradually becomes the new normal.

The craziness that his chunin team gets up to becomes far more worrying actually.

Naruto lands next to him as Sakura heals his bleeding nose. Sasuke rushes off to back up Shino and Akamaru who are currently keeping the enemy away. Shino's so angry he can hear the buzzing from here, and the sound drowns out Akamaru's cursing.

"This is—" Naruto gestures to a Sasuke look-alike behind him.

"Lamorak," Sakura immediately says.

He throws his hands up in the air and lets her have her way.

* * *

After thinking for a bit, I realized that the original Gaining Knighthood was already complete, so no real extensions were made. I will, however, be posting up new content soon, and the story is now officially non-canon to the TttF. Thanks for reading!


	11. Quest to Save their Place of Learning

Questing For Dummies

* * *

"Ah, Iruka- _sensei_ ," his coworker gently teases, "good luck!"

"Thanks," he says with a tight smile.

The woman marches away while waving a folder over her shoulder, and he sighs while rubbing the bridge of his nose. He withholds the urge to start screaming.

"Don't you have classes to get to?" He asks through gritted teeth, and the stares he feels digging into his back disappear.

No doubt the rest of the instructors are enjoying his current predicament. Doors shut loudly—pointedly—down the hallway, and he debates the merit of switching out the tea in the breakroom for something spicy.

It'd serve them right for dumping the catastrophic class on him.

Of course, he knows why the other instructors are overjoyed at not being "it." This class contains Uzumaki Naruto, and his strange group of troublemakers. While he might have his own reservations about the child, the Hokage guaranteed the boy isn't a threat.

The other children following after the fox child, however…

Even so, more than his faith in the Hokage, he's a professional, and he isn't about to let fear stop him from doing his job.

His hand hovers over the door to his new classroom, and his lips quirk into a humorless smile.

It's too bad Mizuki is in the hospital. The emotional support would have been nice. He's heard rumors about Uzumaki's group—mostly exaggerated, he's sure—but there's no doubt he's going to be dealing with a bunch of insane five year old children.

(More so than usual, he means.)

Professional, he reminds himself before opening the door to the classroom.

"I am Umino Iruka, and I will be your instructor starting today," he smiles to the sea of tiny faces staring back at him.

"It is good to meet you!" A boy with the oddest eyebrows shouts, standing up and slamming his hands down onto the desk.

The boy gets yanked down by a girl whose hair is twisted into buns. The Hyuuga child on the boy's other side sighs heavily.

"Why does he always have to yell?" The Hyuuga mutters.

"Well, that's Lee for you," the girl says.

The rest of the children in the classroom begin making faces. That's not good. He's already losing control, and class hasn't even started. Before he can force the children's attention back to him, a girl with bright pink hair hisses loudly to the boy next to her.

"Wake up, Kiba, he's here!"

"I'm awake," the boy whose face is planted against the desk groans, "who can sleep through _that_ racket?"

"Lack of sleep causes fatigue. Perhaps staying up to cause havoc was not the correct choice," the boy in the oversized jacket says mercilessly.

A puppy lying in the sleeping boy's lap begins barking; this sets off a whisker-marked child who begins cackling about "awesome pranks against injustice." He doesn't get to utter a word before a dark haired child with fine features begins sneering.

"Stop being a nuisance. The police have more things to worry about than you."

"You're that Uzumaki kid!" One of the children from across the room calls out. "My brother said you destroy things!"

"I will fell anyone who tries to hurt Naruto!" A Hyuuga girl cries out, reacting to a threat that was never spoken.

"Bring it back, you crazy heiress," a boy with the spiky hair says, unconcerned tone at odds with the scolding words.

"Don't worry Hinata, they'll have to go through all of us," the Akimichi child sitting next to him says.

The rest of the classroom takes this as an opening to turn to each other and begin talking. Any semblance of order goes out the metaphorical—and hopefully not the literal—window.

He rubs his nose and tries to count backwards from fifteen. Someone screams about being a rainbow ninja. Uzumaki's screechy voice stabs into his brain repeatedly. He doesn't make it to five.

"All of you shut up!" He screams.

Pure, beautiful silence greets his ears, and he takes a deep breath.

Ruefully, he will later reflect that there is no better introduction to the notorious Knights of Konoha. The brats aren't disobedient so much as they are scatterbrained weirdos.

"It's nice to meet you, Iruka-sensei," a blonde-haired girl purrs, staring him down with darkening blue eyes.

From there, the rest of his day goes about as well as he expected.

...

"Long day?" His coworker asks, holding up a cup of coffee for him.

"Like you wouldn't believe," he says hollowly.

Not only is Uzumaki in his class, but his troublemaking group consists of Konoha's most prominent clan heirs. All who already know the basics of being a ninja, and all who appeared ready to riot at the idea of learning mathematics and writing.

"I didn't even have any help considering Mizuki had an accident with some chili peppers exploding—"

He stops cold. It'd certainly been strange how that had happened when Mizuki hadn't even recalled how the peppers had made it into his shopping basket. When the bag of peppers had exploded on him, Mizuki reached for his medkit only to find ground up coffee labeled as burn salve.

Could it be?

"What's wrong?"

"No, nothing. I'm overthinking it," he laughs nervously to himself.

Aside from a few outbursts, his first day with them really wasn't so bad—trying his temper, certainly—but it wasn't terrible enough to resign. The next day isn't much worse, and he's foolishly lulled into a false sense of security.

If this is as bad as this class gets, he'll have them whipped into shape in no time.

He very quickly learns how arrogant his thinking is.

"Begone foul being, back to the depths where you belong!" Uzumaki screams before launching himself at the now recovered Mizuki.

"To arms!" Kiba howls before following after.

Like a pack of wolves, the rest of the children bearing wooden swords dart towards Mizuki with snarling lips. While the punches Mizuki hits them with it is a touch too extreme, he can't say he blames him when the Hyuuga go after Mizuki with palms held out.

He is perhaps a bit too gentle himself; Mizuki is knocked out cold while he's trying to wrestle the children to the ground without anyone getting hurt. He has a hunch that the Aburame is to blame for that one.

"Everybody out but these twelve!" He hollers as the rest of the class watch on in a mixture of shock and excitement. "NOW!" He adds on when no one moves.

"What is going on? Explain!" He roars as the rest of the class hurries to empty the room.

"I am King Arturus! I will continue on the path of shayari! Believe it!" Naruto roars back.

The sheer absurdity of that statement catches him off guard.

"What?" He blinks.

"And so our quest to rid our sacred place of learning from Morgana's influence continues," Ino says as if commenting on the weather.

" _What_?"

"Mizuki-sensei's a spy," Sakura says simply.

"For evil," Chouji informs him solemnly.

He's speechless, but not for long.

"Detention," he says, face turning red.

It's all part of their game, he's sure of it. Still, Mizuki is not a spy, and no matter what kind of innocent fun these kids are playing at their teacher's expense, that's a serious accusation to be flinging around. Never mind actually physically attacking their teacher.

Yet no matter what he says, these kids never stop in their harassment. In fact, they begin ramping up their pranks as Mizuki's retaliation gets harsher. It gets to absurd levels, and he knows he has a problem on his hand when hospital trips begin happening.

As a last resort, he brings in a T&I specialist to scare them all straight. When the lady gives them a light, yet terrifying interrogation, he does not expect Mizuki to crack like an egg when pointed questions are thrown his way.

He does not expect Mizuki to _actually_ be a spy.

Mizuki attempts to hold the children hostage, but the only thing that happens is him getting stabbed by ten wooden swords at once. His own kunai is at Mizuki's throat not a moment later; he holds it there without hesitation.

No one touches his children, not even lifelong friends.

"Well, well. This certainly wasn't what I expected when you asked me to scare misbehaving children," the T&I specialist says while tying an unconscious Mizuki's wrists with wire. "A wimp like him collecting information for Orochimaru? I believe you've just made Anko's day."

There are many things he should be feeling right now. Betrayal, confusion, grief, and yet the one thing that sticks out the most is—

"They were right?" He whispers in disbelief.

"We did it! Quest accomplished!" Naruto shouts, throwing his arms up.

The cheers following that exclamation twist his heart in agony. He knows, without a shadow of a doubt, that this is only the beginning. His days of sheer insanity and chaos have just begun.

"I can't believe that worked," Sakura remarks.

"Obviously, you doubt my plans?" Shikamaru scoffs.

"Never," Chouji says loyally.

"I just don't understand how you knew Iruka-sensei would call in someone from T&I," Neji frowns.

"Sir Tristan is amazing!" Lee beams, teeth shining.

"Let's get something to eat to celebrate!" Tenten exclaims.

"Not ramen," Sasuke says immediately.

"King Arturus should decide," Hinata says firmly.

"We can't, or it's always going to be ramen," Ino chides.

"Iruka-sensei, you coming?" Kiba asks, hanging on Shino's shoulder with a pointy grin.

He really shouldn't. He needs to go see the Hokage, contact their parents, and revise lesson plans. He's got a bottle of sake sitting in the back of his kitchen cabinet, coated with dust. He has plenty of work to get started on now that his class is down a teacher.

"Just this once," he says, unknowingly lying, "I'll pay if we get ramen."

"Yay! You're now my most favorite person in the whole world!" Naruto declares.


	12. Quest to be Found Worthy of Questing

...

On his days off from school, it's routine for him to visit Sakura's house once all his chores are done for the day. He loves the tiny, vicious little monsters he calls friends, but even he needs a day to just relax.

"You know, I can't believe Mizuki actually was a spy," he says, staring thoughtfully at the ceiling.

Akamaru laughs before snuggling into the new pet bed by Sakura's desk. Taking in the pink cushion with its tiny pillow and sewn-in blanket, he can only marvel at how much Mrs. Haruno adores the ninken puppy.

"Oh, don't remind me." Sakura makes a face. "All I wanted to do was cut off Mizuki's influence early. I didn't think Naruto would take my 'I saw him doing something bad' and go with _that_."

Ino hadn't helped either: she'd nudged and prodded the situation with comments along the lines of "Daddy always says that those kinds of behaviors are suspect and likely of treason." The other kids, Naruto in particular, had latched onto this so-called Yamanaka wisdom as absolute truth.

He wonders if Ino had been just as surprised as Sakura and him about Mizuki, or if she actually had an inkling.

"Well, moving on." Sakura waves a hand before leaning back against the bed. "Now that we've finished the 'quest,' we'll need to come up with a new one before Sasuke goes looking for one. Or Lee."

"Bet you they'd find something involving missing-nin," he says with a grin.

"I don't take losing bets."

Their biggest troublemaker in this group isn't Naruto. King Arturus tends to wait for his adviser, Myrddin, before making big decisions after all. Sasuke, on the other hand, is impatient and headstrong with a taste for rebelliousness. Lee, when not assigned a task, searches for good deeds and training opportunities. To say it never ends well is an understatement.

"Should we do another grail quest?" He asks.

"You mean Sage's Sake Cup." The corner of Sakura's lips quirk for a brief moment. "No, I think if we tried one of those, they'd go overboard with it right now." She sighs.

They grow silent as they rack their brains for some new, stupid idea in their continuing game. He comes up empty. Sakura wears the same blank expression, so he figures she doesn't have anything either.

When an hour goes by with both of them still trying to think of a quest, he knows one will not be found. Could this be the end? They've done this for literally years, but this is the first time neither of them has anything to suggest.

"I think we'll have to let Sasuke and-or Lee get us arrested," he says, admitting defeat.

"Let's just go get something to eat. Maybe we'll think of something after that," Sakura groans.

They still have nothing by the time the next Round Table meeting is held. He can only shrug at a grimacing Sakura when King Arturus turns those hopeful blue eyes of his on them.

Sakura puts her staff on the small, round piece of wood serving as their table, and draws herself up with the air of one about to speak words of great importance. All eyes are on her, alert and unwavering as if she was the Hokage, himself.

"Today, Gawain has important information to reveal," Sakura says quickly before grabbing her staff and stepping away.

Well, crap.

Shooting a glare at the unrepentant Sakura, he slowly approaches the table—it's really just a flat piece of wood on top of a box—and lays his weapon on it. His mind runs a mile a minute as those trusting eyes land on him.

Akamaru pats him from where the ninken rests on his head, and he relaxes. If nothing else, he can use the emergency backup plan: claim Morgana has laid a spell on him.

"Last night, I had a dream," he says slowly, as if in pain, "of a figure whose face I couldn't see. They wore robes and the sun kept me from seeing the colors."

"Was it the Sage?" King Arturus interrupts with wide eyes, causing Bedwyr to gasp beside him.

He almost says "No" but thinks better of it. A dream of the Sage of Six Paths would make for a good story, wouldn't it?

"Yes, and he gave me a message to give to all the Knights of the Round Table," he says, words coming out faster than his brain can filter them. "He said that we have only just begun our work as the true protectors of the village. That though we are strong, we must grow stronger still. We must prove to him that we are more than just lucky!"

Sakura makes a squinty face at him, and he grins at her before finishing grandly,

"The Sage has given us the quest of being found worthy of questing! We must survive the obstacles he gives us over this next week!"

Excited chatter breaks out, and he mentally pats himself on the back. This will give them an entire week to come up with a real quest idea. Sasuke and Lee will be too busy looking over their shoulders to cause havoc.

"What kind of obstacles are we talking about here, Gawain? Fighting monsters? Ousting spies?" Gingalin twirls a kunai around her finger with eyes ablaze.

"He didn't say, but I'm sure whatever it is will need all our effort," he says, struggling to keep a straight face; Akamaru making a squeaky noise in his ear doesn't help.

Sakura is more amused by his improvisation than angry, but considering she threw him in front of the line of kunai, she waved away her right to be upset. He says as much.

"Just shut up and help come up with something," Sakura says, rolling her eyes.

Predictably, the week consists of the usual tedium: go to school, go home and do chores, meet up at the park to finish homework, play, go to bed. The Knights try to stay alert and vigilant for anything suspicious but tire out quick enough.

Of course, it's on the second to last day of their supposed week that something actually happens. He's not there when it begins; he's standing in front of a furniture store being inspired while Sakura makes notes beside him to iron out the details.

"-and it should be gold," he says, completely ignorant of the incoming chaos.

"Rejected. But I want a nice finish, so maybe we should get the adults involved in this," Sakura says, pen scratching against her notebook.

Heads bent over and backs turned to the street, they both miss the silent, flailing ninja flying by behind them. He gives another suggestion, and Sakura makes a note of it. They miss the next ninja soaring past them as well. Akamaru lets out a whine.

Neither of them miss the unmistakable sound of an enraged donkey galloping down the street. He whirls around just in time to see the animal running by, screaming an awfully human-sounding scream.

He's almost positive he imagines the " _You're the jackassess!_ " trailing behind it on the wind.

Akamaru whimpers in his jacket as he stares at the now empty street in shock. Sakura makes a pained noise next to him.

"Tell me that wasn't Naruto and Sasuke hanging onto its neck for dear life," he says blankly.

"I think I saw Tenten hanging onto its tail?" Sakura questions faintly.

As one, they immediately break into a run after the donkey. Somewhere along the way, Shino and Neji join them as adults sprint over the rooftops.

"Report," he barks, attempting to keep an even pace.

Man, he really needs to work on his stamina. Admittedly, he's only just begun the academy, but he can already tell he's going to need to improve rapidly. At least he fares better than Sakura, who is lagging behind.

"Lancelot challenged King Arturus to a duel," Kay begins.

"And then this creature came out of nowhere, said it had grievances, and kidnapped them," Lionel finishes.

"It said?" He nearly trips trying to look at Neji.

"It must be a summon then," Sakura says, panting and out of breath.

"Gingalin managed to grab on before they got away." Lionel frowns, Byakugan activated. "Over there!"

The donkey is already surrounded by adult ninja, one of which holds his hands up in a pacifying manner. He can't hear what they're saying, but judging from the way the donkey stomps, it's not going well.

King Arturus, now sitting on the donkey's back, yells at the ninja with one fist waving angrily while Lancelot and Gingalin stand beside them, giving everyone the stink-eye.

Gaheris lets out an angry, high-pitched bark. He pats his partner still tucked away in his jacket.

"Myrddin, I think this is all you," he says to the wheezing girl beside him.

"We shall stay here," Kay says, taking a step backwards.

"Sounds like a plan." Lionel crosses his arms.

"Thanks a bunch," Myrddin says dryly, still doubled over.

Fixing her hair, Myrddin holds her staff up, and walks out into the fray with her back straight and an angry glare in place. He keeps a grip on the kunai in his jacket pocket even as he hears Kay's bugs moving around.

Kay probably has a bug ready to drain the chakra of everyone here. Such a scary five year old.

Whatever King Arturus says keeps the donkey from bolting or kicking as Myrddin approaches. She listens to what it has to say before turning to the adult ninja trying to calm it down. Myrddin strokes her non-existent beard in thought once everything is said.

"Alright, you idiots," Myrddin says loudly for all to hear, "have either of you even _talked_ about what's bothering you first?"

The silence that follows is a good enough answer to that question.

"Mr. Ass, please tell the man your issue," Myrddin says, motioning to the donkey with her staff.

"My _issue_ is that I am a war summon! I battle, I fight! But what have I been summoned for these past years? To plow fields like a common low-born!" The donkey stomps a hoof.

"That's part of infiltration," the donkey's summoner, he presumes, says helplessly.

"Infiltration! Do I look like a stealth summon to you? No matter how many times I showed I was upset, you never listened to me! So I heard there was a king running around, and I knew you'd listen to _him_." The donkey is utterly serious.

His eyes, along with everyone else's, move towards the small child sitting on the donkey's back. King Arturus attempts to glare at them but only manages to pout. Myrddin's face falters for a brief moment.

Clearly, he thinks, this ass is a dumb one.

"So, here we have a summon that is aggrieved because of the misuse of its abilities," Myrddin coughs, trying to get back into character. "Mr. Ninja, what are your reasons for not taking him into battle?"

"Because there's no battle to fight right now!" The summoner cries. "Konoha needs us in this way. It's our duty to maintain the peace here. Isn't that enough?"

"You signed the agreement between the summon and yourself, not the summon and Konoha," Myrddin gently reminds him before looking at the donkey. "That said, if you were so upset, why didn't you just refuse to be summoned? Or go back?"

"I," here the donkey's eyes shift, "I would miss Tohaku very much."

"Retsu," the summoner sniffles.

To Myrddin's horror, what follows from there is a teary mess between man and donkey. Stuck in the middle, she has no choice but to give guidelines for the two to follow.

Slowly, the other Knights stop by to watch the spectacle or, in Nimue's case, to offer suggestions—"Stop helping," Myrddin hisses under her breath—and they end up making a great audience that "Ooh"s and "Aw"s at all the right moments.

It's like watching a therapy talk show.

By the end of it all, the only thing any of them are given are thanks and discount coupons to a restaurant they don't go to.

"Do you think the Sage would approve of how we solved this one?" Lancelot demands before the summon leaves.

"Oh, he's very into peaceful solutions," Retsu nods knowingly before looking at King Arturus. "You're definitely a worthy king! Might want to try to do something about that height though."

The donkey poofs out of existence leaving behind a bunch of sparkly-eyed brats that have found enlightenment. He pats a groaning Myrddin on the shoulder before handing over Gaheris as a cuddle toy.

"Quest accomplished?" He asks once Sakura has dropped out of the Myrddin persona entirely.

"What a stupid ass with his stupid ass summoner," she says, rubbing her face against Akamaru's fur as if to forget the whole thing entirely.


	13. Quest for the Round Table

...

Now that Naruto knows that summons exist—Sakura does what she can for Naruto's education, but she's not a miracle worker—there is only one way to prevent him from breaking into the Hokage's office to demand one of his own.

"King Arturus," Myrddin says with as much authority that can be had with her tiny self, "only the most noble of summons can be given to the One True King. And only from a quest fraught with peril, which can only be obtained after many trials, can the noble summons be found."

Naruto, whose vocabulary isn't quite up to Sakura's, can only stare blankly as he attempts to work through Myrddin's words. He fails of course, but bless his little blond head for trying anyway.

"You must wait until the Sage grants you the quest," he says to help him out.

"Aw, okay." King Arturus kicks the ground with a pout.

And that's that. He expected more of a fuss from their resident loudmouth, but he supposes the responsibility of kingship has given the kid a new view on the world. Years of learning to give and take instead of just take.

Yeah, right. Like he's supposed to believe that. Sakura may be in denial, but he isn't.

"You know, I think they've all forgotten that this is just a game," he tells Akamaru. The puppy makes an inquiring whine. "No, really. Naruto probably really thinks the Sage will personally give him a summon sometime in the future."

Which might actually happen considering the world they're living in. He's fuzzy on the details, but he's positive Naruto met the Sage at some point originally. Unless the Sage corrects them, he can already foresee meeting him will cause everyone to go even deeper into this rabbit hole.

And considering he's the one who started this whole thing to begin with—

"You know what? Let's forget we ever had this conversation," he says. "This is obviously a game that will fade with time."

Akamaru's squints at him in clear disbelief.

For their next quest, he's turned what should be a simple purchase into an epic hunt. It's going to end in an unforgettable battle with lasting consequences to their game. He can't wait.

To get things rolling, he needs a villain. He asks Ma for help in tracking down Uchiha Shisui, and the older boy needs no convincing despite having better things to do as an actual ninja.

"Oh man, I'm going to need a cape. All good villains need capes," Shisui says with delight.

"Maybe get some face paint?" He suggests. "You're trying to look like you're under mind control."

He has a backup plan in case an emergency or a mission comes up, but everything goes smoothly. At their next meeting—which is just a standard meeting at the park but with their makeshift table—their next quest kicks in.

Literally.

There's a sharp crack, and Shisui, now clad in a shiny, black cape and glowing blue face paint, moves his foot away from the wood that once served as their tabletop.

"Bwahaha!" Shisui laughs loudly. "Your roundish table is no more!"

Gasps mingle with sharp inhales, and wooden swords are drawn. He barely keeps himself from cracking up at the sheer amount of outrage on everyone's faces.

"Who dares?" King Arturus demands, sword waving wildly.

"There is nowhere Morgana's power cannot reach!" Shisui flairs his cape dramatically before flickering away.

It takes them all a moment to realize that Shisui is already gone; he's so fast that it's like teleportation.

"I'll kill him," Lancelot immediately says, scowl ruined by chubby cheeks.

"Wait a minute, didn't you see the mark on his forehead?" Myrddin speaks up. "That's the work of Morgana! Shisui must be under her control."

"We must rescue him!" Brunor exclaims.

"But what about the Round Table?" Percival asks.

"Yeah, what about the table?" Tristan gives Myrddin and him a look.

Shikamaru is the only one who ever calls them out on knowing the plot. It would be irritating if he didn't know Shikamaru actually enjoys the stupid things Sakura and he come up with.

Akamaru makes a questioning bark, and Myrddin clears her throat.

"Yes, we'll need to rid Shisui of Morgana's control, but we'll have to deal with the table too. I suggest moving in pairs," Myrddin says. "With myself and Nimue staying to create a counter-seal."

"Give us a few days, and there's nothing we can't do," Nimue winks.

"Morgana likely has ritual sites all over Konoha." By that, he means Shisui has placed boxes with "Do Not Touch" everywhere while informing people that it's part of their game. "We might come across something about the Round Table while looking for them," he says.

King Arturus scratches the back of his head while he thinks with squinty eyes. There is, admittedly, not much to think about since they've told him what to do, but there are appearances one has to maintain.

"Yeah, let's do that," King Arturus nods. "Grab your partner and do that!"

"And so begins the quest for the Round Table!" Myrddin proclaims, calling an end to the meeting.

Kay is already hovering over his shoulder. Percival trails behind the grumbling Tristan while an exasperated Gingalin is chasing after the excitable Brunor.

"I'll take the moron," Lancelot says but reconsiders upon seeing the darkening face of Bedwyr, "by which I mean Lionel."

"Cute," Lionel sneers.

When the others storm off, Sakura looks at him with a frown. He nods. He saw it too. Shisui drew an eye resembling the Rinnegan in the middle of his forehead. Hopefully it's just a coincidence and nothing more.

"Come on Kay, Gaheris," he says to both his partners. "Since my instincts are telling me exactly where a ritual site is, we've got time for a snack."

He's feeling like ice cream. Maybe the one next to the comic book stand.

"Are detours your specialty?" Kay asks dryly, far too used to this.

"It's mental preparation!" He shoots back mockingly.

Akamaru makes an agreeing sound, and they amble away at a relaxing pace. He only knows the location of one of the boxes—there's ten of them, and Shisui was instructed to place them in locations they can find—but he's going to give it a day or two before going after it.

It's more fun to see the others stumble upon these things after all.

"Tristan found a ritual site and there was something at it!" Percival says the next day.

Percival beams at them while carrying one of the boxes Shisui planted. Black ink marks out the blue eyes painted on the box as if showing the destruction of the evil seals.

"What made you—sorry, what made _Morgana_ put it in a pond?" Tristan looks at him then Myrddin.

There's a lot of irritation in those dull eyes. He shrugs apologetically. He sort of figured Shisui would do something like that, but time crunches are a thing.

"Because Morgana is evil," Myrddin answers flatly before motioning to Percival. "Let's see what powers her hold over Shisui."

Myrddin, Percival, and Tristan are the ones who get to actually open the box; the rest of them have to fight each other to get a peek. King Arturus doesn't help with his constant wriggling and shouting of "I'm king, so I get to see first!"

It's a shame Gaheris can't speak yet, or else the ninken could sit on his head and tell him what's happening.

"It's a piece of wood," Tristan announces dryly.

There's a pause in the slapping and shoving in the huddle around the box.

"It's got carvings on it!" Percival says next, reigniting the frenzy.

Myrddin yells at them to quit it before holding up the piece of wood in question. It's not very impressive, and he doubts any of them can tell what it goes to.

"Clearly this is part of a greater whole. We need all the pieces from the ritual sites," Myrddin says. "Nimue and I will cleanse these of Morgana's influence as you find the rest."

"I made protection seals to protect you from any influences at the ritual sites," Nimue says, handing out handmade necklaces with flowers drawn on cardboard medallions.

Kay doesn't actually care about finding a box, so he grabs the one he knows about and lets the others find the rest. It takes two weeks to find seven more. He's very glad they ban the Hyuuga from using their Byakugan or the quest would have finished much sooner.

"It's a table," Lionel says as they place the pieces beside each other on the ground.

"There's even a tablecloth," Bedwyr says, admiring the dark blue cloth.

"But the most important part is missing," Tristan notes.

The tabletop is nowhere to be found.

"Morgana must have hidden it as we found the others," Myrddin frowns. "Nimue, I will need your help to scry its location!"

"I feel like an underpaid, underappreciated assistant," Nimue says dryly.

Naturally, only Shisui knows where the tenth box is. Timing it so that Shisui can play knights with them means that Myrddin and Nimue need another week and a half before they can suddenly claim to know where the tabletop is.

In the meantime, the rest of the knights tear up half of Konoha in a pointless search. Shisui hid it well: not even the Byakugan helps them figure out its location.

"We've done it!" Myrddin cries. "We found it. It's on top of a mountain!"

"But since we put this much effort into it already, let's drag it here to us instead," Nimue smirks.

On cue, Shisui flickers into the center of their meeting, cape flying out behind him dramatically. Under his arm is the last box: its painted blue eyes glitter under the sunlight. Streaks of red and purple make it appear more malicious than the others.

(Shisui, bored and fully able to buy art supplies, decided to be creative with the box that's been sitting in his room for close to a month.)

"You think you can combat the power of Morgana? Fools!" Shisui spits, twirling a wooden staff in his hand.

"Get him!" King Arturus orders.

If Shisui is put out by the tiny children charging him with wooden swords and murderous intent, he doesn't show it. In fact, the longer the fight goes on—at some point Shisui actually has to speed up to keep from being overwhelmed—the more livelier the older boy seems to get.

As this is a game and not a true sparring session, when their energy begins waning, Shisui allows himself to get hit. Falling to the ground and clutching his shoulder, Shisui admits defeat. His acting could use some work though.

"Argh, is this the end? How could I," Shisui drags this out with a wail, "be beaten by such dastards?"

"The knights held you off while Myrddin and I had seals in place to weaken you over time," Nimue says, pulling out a hand wipe. "Now stay still."

Shisui wails and writhes as Nimue wipes the face paint off.

Myrddin catches his attention and rolls her eyes at the scene before her. He bites his lip to keep from laughing.

With that, Morgana's control over Shisui is broken. Blacking out the eyes on the box Shisui brought, they get to assembling the table once Myrddin and Nimue cleanse the round top.

"Why am I the one doing this?" Shisui mutters, tightening in a screw. "I'm the victim!"

"Because it's still your fault," Lancelot says coldly.

Their new table is foldable, light, easy to carry, and, best of all, an actual table. Percival, being the one to find the initial piece, will be the one setting it up for every meeting.

He's relieved to see the table in Chouji's dependable hands since it's custom made Inuzuka furniture.

The original plan between Sakura and him was to beg their parents to go halves on the cheapest, smallest table available. Carelessly mentioning said plan to a cousin turned into his entire clan deciding that he could do better; they then proceeded to _build_ him one.

He practically had to beg them not to go overboard.

They're amazing, his family. Even if the instructions they made are so hard to understand that it makes Shisui swear under his breath.

He high fives Sakura when no one is looking.

"Mission accomplished," they whisper to each other.


End file.
